News Shopper is helping to spread a little extra festive cheer, thanks to a charity for the blind and partially sighted.

Bromley District Talking News is again supporting the Hayes Free Church Christmas Tree Festival, but this year with a difference.

The Talking News tree has decorations and Christmas crackers made from the pages of this fine newspaper, while a display board shows Christmas card style pictures of the charity's president Dick Groves and volunteer members of the team.

This is the idea of Marion McHardy, the charity's new head of marketing and publicity, who said: "We enter a tree in the festival every year to publicise our free service so that more blind and partially sighted people may enjoy hearing the local news.

"I thought that using the News Shopper to wrap presents and make decorations formed an eye-catching link between the tree and the key source of our news content."

Talking News is recorded onto a USB memory stick and a small easy-to-use player is provided free to listeners. Alternatively, listeners may use their own equipment.

Talking News is delivered free by mail each week to all areas of Bromley.

For more information, see www.bromleytn.org.uk/

The Hayes Free Church Christmas Tree Festival, in aid of Bertha James Day Centre, will be held at the church in Pickhurst Lane until December 12, open at varying times. See www.hayesfreechurch.com

Words and pictures by Ken Tracey.