A CHRISTMAS celebration will be taking place this Sunday at Jack's to help wounded veterans and thank the community.

Jack's on Four Acre Lane decided to host an event to thank customers who have supported the store since its launch last October. From 11am to 3pm, there will be plenty on offer for families to enjoy - all free of charge - including Christmas themed face painting, sweet treats and festive-themed food sampling.

In addition to the fun day, Jack's has organised a Christmas treasure hunt and has hidden Christmas baubles containing prizes including Jack’s gift cards and sweet treat prizes to be won, as a special treat for the people of St Helen's.

As part of the celebration, Walking With The Wounded will be fundraising in store for its Walking Home For Christmas campaign.

Every penny raised will directly support Walking With The Wounded's employment, mental health and care coordination programmes for 'at risk' ex military to help them back into society and lead independent lives.

Karl Van Der Laan, store manager at Jack’s St Helen's, said: “We love Christmas here at Jack's. We wanted to do something fun for our local community to celebrate the festive season and to thank our customers for their support since we opened last year - and what could be more festive and fun than having reindeers and elves here.

"We hope as many people as possible take the opportunity to come down and join in the fun, and try some of our delicious Christmas food items, which celebrates the very best of British, and help us to support this fantastic charity.

"We're also very excited about our St Helen's treasure hunt and wish everyone good luck with their bauble search”

Andy Sloan, Event Manager from Walking With The Wounded, said: “We’re very grateful to the Tesco Armed Forces Network and Jack’s for supporting our Christmas campaign ‘Walking Home For Christmas’ which is seeing well over 1,000 fundraising walks across the UK.

"Christmas is a great time if you have a home, a job, a family and are in a good place mentally.

"It’s tough if you’re not, so any sign-ups to Walking Home For Christmas, or donations at the collections at Jack’s stores enable us to support veterans who are socially isolated to get back into work and independence so that next Christmas they can support themselves and their families.”

To support Walking Home For Christmas visit walkinghomeforchristmas.com/jacks.