With Christmas fast approaching, I’m sure some of your readers, like myself, will have shopping left to do.

I would like to suggest a simple but powerful last-minute gift that will change lives.

This December, Mary’s Meals is hosting a virtual Christmas dinner raising funds to feed hungry children around the world.

For just £13.90 – enough to feed a child every day for an entire school year – people in the North West can set a place at our table for their friends and family.

Their name will appear online and we’ll provide a digital placemat to pass on as a gift.

Mary’s Meals feeds more than 1.5 million children every school day in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The promise of a nutritious meal attracts them into the classroom, where they receive an education that can, in the future, be their ladder out of poverty.

Please visit marysmeals.org.uk/Christmas to set your place.

Daniel Adams, UK Executive Director of Mary’s Meals