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Charity advent calendar 48ft wide with 7,500 gifts

Ollie SamuelsNorth West, Chorley
News imageCuboid A night-time image of a structure made from shipping containers. There are six columns containing four containers each. On the front of the containers are numbers, lit up. On the right of the containers is a large christmas treeCuboid
The huge advent calendar has been made at a self storage facility in Chorley

An advent calendar made from 24 shipping containers has been created by a self storage company in Lancashire, with thousands of gifts for local children inside.

Cuboid Self Storage in Chorley claim the structure, which stands at 34ft (10.3m) tall and 48ft (14.6m) wide, is one of the largest advent calendars in the world.

Each day in December, a container with gifts will be donated to a different Lancashire charity as part of the Cash For Kids Mission Christmas campaign.

Chris Hickman from Cuboid said: "We've been quite specific with the charities that we work with, we want to make sure that these gifts go to the heart of the community."

The shipping containers, which are 20ft (6.1m) deep, contain about 7,500 presents, he said.

The first day of gifts were donated to Inspire Youth Zone in Chorley.

Jenny Taylor from the charity said it was "absolutely amazing" to receive about 200 gifts for the children that they work with, as well as further presents for their family meal day.

News imageA man in a blue gilet and blue coat stands next to a shipping container. On the front of the container is a a giant number three, covered in lights.
Chris Hickman with the third container of the advent calendar

"There was lots of variety for us," she said.

"Often it's quite easy to find a toy for a young child, but for a teenager it can be a difficult mission."

Cuboid are working with the Cash For Kids foundation to help source and distribute the presents.

Eve Wane-Smith from the foundation said: "Last year, Mission Christmas Lancashire helped 9,000 children.

"This year, already we've had 16,000 applications."

News imageCuboid Two women in a shipping container looking through carboard boxes full of gifts. Two spongebob squarepants toys are visible in the red and white boxesCuboid
Each shipping container in the advent calendar is filled with presents

Ms Wane-Smith said Lancashire was "really stepping up" with donations to meet demand, and the organisation was grateful for the help from the local community.

Mr Hickman said "We want to help as many people as possible. Anything that we can do to support, we are doing.

"Every single kid should wake up with a gift on Christmas morning."

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