A gloomy economy hasn't stopped the DIY industry supporting charity this Christmas.
Staff at Decco's Dagenham branch, in east London, came to the aid of their local Crisis at Christmas centre.

The charity, which offers help and support to the homeless and lonely, appealed for donations of paint and building materials last week.

Their Christmas initiative builds temporary accommodation for homeless and lonely people to meet up in a safe environment, where they can clean themselves up, eat and sleep for a fortnight over Christmas.

Dagenham store's manager, Gordon McDonald, wanted to help and within an hour had arranged for all the items the charity had needed to be sent to the charity last week.

Mr McDonald told diyweek.net: "They were in desperate need of paint and building materials to complete a temporary shelter for the needy.

"Within an hour, I had secured donations from ICI, Berger and Ronseal.

"We're one of the smaller branches in the chain and we have an excellent reputation for distribution so we picked it all up, loaded it the same day and delivered it last Friday."

Mr McDonald also wanted to express his thanks to the firms who helped out supplying paint, waterproofing for showers and other DIY equipment.