THE FOUNDER of a community group which has helped hundreds of homeless people has been nominated for a prestigious award.

Claire Day, from Chepstow, has been named as a finalist for a Pride of Britain Award in recognition of her work with charity Street Life Sarnies (SLS).

The mum-of-two founded the charity in 2014 after she began helping a charity hand out sandwiches in Bristol.

Based in Chepstow, Mrs Day, her two children and husband all part of the SLS team. They originally began in Undy from the family home

From there SLS was formed and the project soon grew from 10 to more than 400 members, and now the group has 3,00 members.

Mrs Day, 44, attended the House of Commons for an event celebrating the contribution of the 10 nominees to the community last Wednesday, October 11.

Guests at the event hosted by Carol Vorderman included Jeremy Corbyn, Sajid Javid, Ed Miliband and stars including Katie Piper, Ben Shephard, Kate Garraway.

She said: "To be nominated amongst such wonderful nominees is such a honour for the whole team of SLS.

"We know first hand how amazing community spirit is as we see it everyday through random acts of kindness via SLS.

"In an era of extreme pressures on society often it is up to the community to deliver where sadly due often to financial restraints, other services can not."

Now in its fourth year, SLS is once again set to launch its Christmas SLS shoebox appeal.

Each year as part of the appeal, the group collect shoeboxes that are packed with supplies such as toothbrushes, chocolate, and woolly gloves and hats.

The boxes are then distributed to homeless charities including The Wallich and Eden Gate in Newport.

The overall winner of the awards will be announced in two weeks and will take part in a ceremony in London.