Sanctuary 21, The Salvation Army's drop-in for the homeless in Durham, is hosting a Christmas Day dinner with turkey and all the trimmings, and gifts for the guests. 

Church leaders Darryn and Karen Hook run the drop-in centre three days a week but they also keep its doors open each Christmas Day to provide a festive dinner for people sleeping on the streets. 

Not only does it give local homeless people a delicious hot meal, they can also enjoy some much needed companionship so that they are not alone on Christmas Day. 

"Christmas can be a time where it really hits people who may have lost contact with their families or struggle with the fact they are no longer have a home to call their own," said Karen.

"The aim of our Christmas meal is to make sure people are not alone, as well as celebrating the achievements of our guests." 

One of the guests joining the meal today is Pete, 52, who this time last year was homeless on the streets after coming out of prison. 

He said it was an "absolutely horrendous" time and he remembered experiencing some "absolutely horrible" incidents of abuse. 

But there were also people who showed unexpected kindness. 

"I was sleeping rough until a couple of days before Christmas so I saw families and people doing their Christmas shopping, which hit home, but there were also an awful lot of nice people who would sit and talk and offer to help me," he said.

"One morning I had been sleeping in a doorway and I woke up to see two carrier bags full of useful things, some cutlery, tinned food, wipes and blanket.

"A lady had written me a note offering to help, it was beautiful."

Now Pete is in supported accommodation and is in a much better place than a year ago. He is also a regular at Sanctuary 21 and regards the people there as his "family". 

He said, "I thought the world was a horrible place, full of horrible people, but to be fair the horrible people are few and far between, there are good people out there including at Sanctuary 21."