WARM clothing in plastic bags will be left around city hot spots for rough sleepers during the cold winter months.

Sam Turner, from Landsdowne Road, came up with the idea after news that people in other parts of the country were tying coats and scarves to lampposts for rough sleepers went viral on Facebook.

Worried the clothing would get wet in bad weather, she approached Hado Polythene, based in Malvern, about buying bags but they instead offered to supply them to her free of charge.

The St Paul's Hostel volunteer said support has snowballed since she set up a group on the social networking site with friends, family and strangers offering new and used good quality items.

The bags, containing socks, gloves, a scarf, hat and jacket or jumper, will soon be popping up around Worcester in areas popular with homeless people.

Any surplus will be donated to Magg's Day Centre.

The 28-year-old said she was amazed at the reaction when she began posting about her idea on Facebook.

"People have been so generous, it has been wonderful.

"Friends have been putting internal emails around their workplaces and now I am getting deliveries daily from people.

"We have had lots of branded and new items and people have also been offering tents and sleeping bags.

"People from all over the three counties have been donating and people have got their schools involved.

"It's been amazing to see how kind people have been especially in the run up to Christmas.

"Everyone on nights out will have seen rough sleepers - they're not sleeping somewhere warm, they are sleeping outside where it is really cold and often wet.

"It's hard to imagine what it must be like for them, especially when it really pours down.

"I wanted to make it obvious what the bags were for so we have clearly labelled them to make it obvious and we're hoping that people who don't need them will leave them alone."

At the moment she is putting together the bags and is hoping to begin dropping them off before Christmas and keep it running throughout winter.

"We will keep it going for as long as necessary.

"If people wanted to collect some of the plastic bags from me and put together a pack themselves then I am more than happy to do that.

"And hopefully we will be able to keep the homeless warm this winter."

Anyone wishing to donate clothing are asked to visit Miss Turner's Facebook group Keeping Worcester Warm This Winter.