'My sons used to get so many presents but not now'

Catherine seemed to have the perfect life, as a mum with two young boys and a job she loved, managing a bank. But behind closed doors, she was suffering at the hands of her partner.

"He was violent and abusive. I ended up in hospital with a head injury and the police said social services might take my children away. I knew that I needed to leave," she tells the BBC.

Three years ago, Catherine packed up her belongings and fled with her children from the south west of England to a refuge in Colchester.

She had to cut contact with everyone she knew and start again. Her sons could not understand why they had to leave their old lives behind.

"I said 'we're going to try something new because Mummy isn't happy' and I pretended it was a holiday," she adds.

"My youngest said 'this holiday is a bit rubbish can we go home now'. It was the lowest point of my life. I had nothing."

Catherine loves to cook so staff at the refuge took her to a community market run by The C3 Church.

She got involved with the church and they supported her as she moved to a new home.

"I just had a mattress on the floor but they helped me so much, from giving us Christmas dinner to a Christmas tree," she says, speaking at the church, where she has made "so many friends".

Catherine says her boys, now aged eight and ten, used to have "so many presents" at Christmas and "were spoilt" but life is very different now.

The 42-year-old says she is thankful to the homelessness charity Emmaus Colchester. It has collected and wrapped 600 presents donated by businesses for low-income and vulnerable families.

Catherine, who now volunteers at the market, says it gives her children something to look forward to on Christmas Day.

She adds: "I've been feeling so guilty that we don't have as much as we used to. But the boys are happy and they are loved. My eldest said to me the other day, 'it doesn't matter what's under the tree because we have you'.

"They know the true meaning of Christmas now, that it's important to just be together and they appreciate things more."

Marta has come to the church to collect a gift for her seven-year-old daughter Maya.

When Maya was a baby, they lived in a bedsit in London and struggled to make ends meet.

The 38-year-old single mother says: "When Maya was three years old, someone gave her £10 as a gift. She said to me 'Mummy we can be warm now'. She knew we needed the money for electricity and gas."

They became homeless and relocated to Colchester. When Marta walked through the doors of the church, she "wanted to give up on life" but found a support network.

"The volunteers here are like angels. It means so much to me that Maya can have this gift on Christmas Day," she says.

Dawn has been given gifts for her four children, who range in age from two to 14.

She started coming to the church several years ago because she was struggling with her mental health, having suffered post-partum psychosis after having a stillborn baby.

"Everyone welcomed me and there has never been any judgement. I'm not religious but it doesn't matter. If I get low, I just know that I need to come here and connect with people," she says.

Dawn has not been able to buy her children many presents this year because she has decorated their bedrooms and says it will make a "huge difference" having the gifts to open.

Genesis Smith has come to the church to help give out the gifts, on behalf of Emmaus.

The 20-year-old lives and works at one of the charity's bases in Colchester, having previously been homeless.

"I was a carer for my mum from the age of 12 but our relationship broke down and I had nowhere to live so I was sleeping on friends' sofas," he says.

Genesis says his relationship with his mum is a lot better now and he really enjoys living in a community and having a purpose.

"I sort through donations to the charity on a day-to-day basis. It's been lovely getting involved in this project and wrapping and giving out the gifts," he says.

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