FAMILIES living on a Trowbridge housing estate fear money put aside for Christmas in a shop's club fund has gone missing

Among those facing a bleak Christmas are two pensioners who were saving to buy presents for their grandchildren.

Concerns were raised when the Manor Road Stores, in the Studley Green area of Trowbridge, which was running the club, closed suddenly.

The shop is now boarded up and no one knows the whereabouts of manager David Kenworthy. Police are investigating after being contacted by worried savers.

One widow in her 70s fears she has lost the £292 she has been saving since April.

She said: "I have been trying to find out where my money is but I can't find anything out. The worry is making me ill."

Another woman, Eva Davis, 85, said: "I was saving money because I give my grandchildren, and other children, packets of sweets for Christmas. I am very angry."

Police spokesman Steve Coxhead said: "We received a complaint from the tenants' committee and an investigation is taking place in respect of the money collected for this Christmas fund. As an integral part of that investigation, police need to speak to this man."

It is unclear how many people may have lost their Christmas savings, but police said it was possible the investigation could involve a figure for the missing cash running into many hundreds of pounds.

The shop is owned by West Wiltshire District Council. Council officer Graham Creasey said he sympathised with residents who were owed money.

"The shop tenant was in the process of signing his lease when he upped and went. Obviously I feel for the people who have saved money through the shop but my concern is to get the shop open," he said.

Shop assistant Julie Edmunds lost her job when the shop closed after 12 years.

She said: "I went in and the shop was boarded up. It was a great shock. I know that people had been saving although I don't know how much money there was."

Resident Tommy O'Shaugh-nessy said: "This has upset so many people, the whole estate is up in arms."