MANY CHILDREN will be spoilt for choice when they open their stockings on Christmas Day.

But for the young victims of homes torn apart by domestic violence there will not be the Yuletide joy of finding out what Santa has brought them.

However, The Giving Tree Appeal, backed by Eastleigh's Swan shopping centre, is making sure that no child will be left out this Christmas.

For the past three years the ITV1 network series That's Esther, presented by Esther Rantzen, has joined forces with shopping centres across the country to help women and children who are spending Christmas in refuges under very difficult emotional circumstances.

It is the second consecutive year that the Swan Centre has taken part.

Outside the grotto, near Littlewoods, is a display of labels on which children have written the gift that they would like Santa to bring.

Shoppers can pick a label and once they have bought the gift, return it to the grotto where staff will wrap the present.

They will make sure it is delivered in time for Christmas Day to an Eastleigh Women's Refuge.

Swan Centre manager Roger Allen says: "We at the Swan Centre are very pleased to be supporting this very worthwhile cause.

"We hope that through the generosity of our customers and staff more and more mothers and children will have a more enjoyable Christmas than they would otherwise have."

The Swan Centre strongly supports the campaign as the women's refuges in and around Eastleigh provide a safe house where women and children experiencing domestic abuse can live free from violence, added Mr Allen.

Last year, thanks to The Giving Tree scheme, nearly 3,000 children living in refuges with their mothers received a gift on Christmas Day.