THIS year's Company for Christmas meal for the homeless people at County Hall in Trowbridge was cancelled because no-one would volunteer to supervise the kitchen, it was disclosed today.

People behind the scenes have told the Wiltshire Times that volunteers were prepared to help prepare, cook and serve this year's meals and Wiltshire Council had offered to once again host the event.

But the Elior UK catering company which runs the kitchens at County Hall would not allow them to be used without a suitably qualified supervisor in charge to manage health and safety issues.

It is understood the person who had supervised the Christmas meals in the past two years has now left County Hall and new staff failed to step forward to help.

Today, no-one from Elior UK was available for comment as their London offices are closed for the weekend.

Kate Dewey, from Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, who has organised the meals for the past nine years, said: "Everyone who was trained to supervise the kitchen had already made other plans for Christmas."

Organisers only found out about the situation on September 30. They held a crisis meeting on October 1 and made the sad decision to cancel this year's meal because no-one would supervise the kitchen.

Miss Dewey, 44, said: "Everyone involved, including the council, volunteers and civic dignitaries, were notified by letter or email on October 15. We informed them that we would not be going ahead with it.

"It is very sad because people will be alone at Christmas. Some of them will be okay and some of them will not."

In previous years, the event has attracted more than 160 people from Trowbridge, Bradford on Avon, Chippenham, Devizes, Warminster and Westbury.

Miss Dewey said Company for Christmas has received an offer from the Tesco Extra superstore in County Way to hold the meal there on Monday, December 23, with two sittings at 11.30am and 2pm in the community cafe space.

Already 14 people have booked in for the first sitting and 19 for the second. Ten places have been reserved at the first sitting for homeless people.

Miss Dewey said: "We would like to thank Tesco and Apetito, who contacted us at the 11th hour and said they would be able to provide the meals at no extra cost, for their generous support."

Next year, Miss Dewey hopes to organise smaller events in more locations, including one in Warminster.

She is hoping that other charities, organisations and individuals will step forward with offers of help to organise and run the events.