by Tim Collins
tcollins@thekmgroup.co.uk

Over 17,200 gift-filled shoeboxes will be delivered to vulnerable children in time for Christmas, thanks to efforts of the Ashford branch of an international charity.
Volunteers from Operation Christmas Child (OCC) have been busy collecting shoeboxes at their warehouse, to be sent to locations across Eastern Europe.
Donations have flooded in from individuals, schools, businesses, churches and other organisations from around Ashford, as well as communities across Kent.
Teams of volunteers in the OCC processing centre on the Cobbs Wood industrial estate off Chart Road have been working long hours collecting, checking and loading the shoeboxes for transportation to needy children in Belarus, Bosnia, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Romania and Ukraine.
Charles Pickford and his wife Carolyn have been co-ordinating the Kent appeal from Ashford for the last six years.
They rely on warehouse owners who allow volunteers to use the space for the six weeks they need to collect and sort the boxes.
Mr Pickford said: “It might be difficult for someone to appreciate what a few toys, some toiletries and education items mean, but the children are so appreciative.
“I just wish everyone could see the smiles on the children’s faces when they get their shoebox. It makes you appreciate how the simple act of someone here sending a shoebox to an unknown child really is a very personal and important act of kindness.”