Children at St Mary's School in Chippenham shared the generous spirit of Christmas through their magnificent effort for Operation Christmas Child.

Pupils filled some 200 boxes with toys, gloves, sweets and other goodies for less fortunate children in Eastern Europe, for whom the festive season would otherwise be miserable.

The enormous mountain of brightly decorated shoeboxes was loaded up on Monday to be checked and taken to the transportation depot.

Parent Mary Cooke said the massive effort reflected the caring community at the Roman Catholic primary school.

"It is central to the ethos of a Catholic school," she said.

Earlier in the year, at the beginning of the appeal, Operation Christmas Child coordinator Sheila Whitaker visited the school and showed staff and pupils a video of children where the boxes would end up.

"It touched the heart strings of teachers and children," said Mrs Cooke.

"I think that inspired them to be even more generous."

Ursula McKinnon who organises collections for the Samaritan's Purse charity in the Devizes, Lavington, Marlborough and Pewsey area said: "Last year we sent out between 1,700 and 1,800 filled shoeboxes from our area and this year I want to make it 2,000."

Gazette offices in Devizes and Chippenham are also acting as drop- off points for the shoe boxes.

Anyone taking along filled boxes must make sure that while the box and lid are wrapped, they are not sealed, as all boxes will need to be checked to make sure they meet Customs requirements.

Leaflets explaining exactly what should and should not go in the boxes along with stickers to indicate what age group the gift is suitable for, are also available at our offices.