Hundreds of Christmas letters written by children delivered to care home residents in Cheltenham

• Watch Adam Grierson's report on the heartwarming tradition of Christmas letters being delivered to care home residents.

Hundreds of Christmas letters written by children have been delivered to residents at care homes in Cheltenham.

The project began during the pandemic as a way of bringing festive cheer to those who were for the most part cut off from their loved ones.

Now it's become a bit of a tradition, with more than 200 children from St James Primary School writing letters this year.

For those at St Faith's Nursing Home, the messages were a welcome festive treat.

One resident, Robin, said: "Very sweet, very very nice. Just very nice messages really."

Another resident said: "They've done very well - all about what they're going to be doing at Christmas - some of them going to stay at grandparents and things like that."

Some were impressed with the children's writing skills, one resident said: "They're very good. You know, they're very young some of them, but it's surprising how they for the letters."

Schoolgirl Georgia, whose mum helps organise the scheme, helped to deliver the letters and wrote one of her own.

She said: "It's really nice because my Grampy's here and it just makes them happy, and it's nice to see them happy and have a bit of festive cheer."

Her younger brother, Alex, also helped bring the special messages.

He said thinking about what to put in his letter was a challenge.

Alex said: "It was really hard but I just kept on thinking about nice stuff about Christmas."

Primary school pupil Morgan was also on hand with mince pies, he added: "Everyone deserves a treat at Christmas."

The project was launched by Georgia and Alex's mum Kate Berry, whose father is a resident at St Faith's.

She now runs the stationery company her father founded decades ago and now they create a free letter template for the children to compose their messages and drawings.

She said: "It's great for them to consider other people and older generations.

"I know myself with my children, with screens, they're easily distracted these days and it just brings it back to that basic Christmas spirit."

She's helped by Natalie Dawson from the Parents and Teachers Association at St James School.

She said: "It's so easy to get caught up in the hectic, manic time of year - buying presents, driving, dashing around.

"So just to come here and see young children engaging with older people and spreading that Christmas joy, it just warms the heart."

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