CUSTOMERS at Oxford’s Covered Market have been supporting rough sleepers by buying canvas bags.

Shoppers at the historic market are being given the bags for a £1 donation which is being passed to the Oxford Homeless Movement.

The city council is the landlord of the market.

Paul Birtles, who runs The Garden of Oxford flower shop, and is chairman of the Covered Market Tenants’ Association, said: “The council has generously supplied the bags at a discounted cost, we have donated the bags, and the great Oxford public have made the donations - so very much a joint enterprise.

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“We initially set ourselves a target to raise of a couple of hundred pounds in the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

Oxford Mail:

“But it wasn’t long before we had collected over £1,000 and the figure is still rising.

“When tied in with the Oxford Community Foundation’s pledge to match the donation, we will be able to contribute more than £2,000 to the Oxford Homeless Movement’s Christmas Match Fund.

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“We are a little overwhelmed with the generosity of the public, and get a very strong feeling that the public support every effort to helping combat the scandal of homelessness that is blighting Oxford, and the country as a whole.”

The homeless movement brings together a large number of agencies and organisations in the city working to tackle rough sleeping.

Its match fund was launched on December 1 and runs until January 6, aiming to raise £150,000 for charities assisting rough sleepers.

Visit oxfordhomelessmovement.org.uk