PADDY'S CHEER FOR HOMELESS

He lit up their Christmas party. 'It's lovely but there's sadness'

- JOHN KELLY

TOP GEAR star Paddy McGuinness has teamed up with an old childhood friend to help the poor and homeless amid the cost of living crisis. 

The actor and comedian turns up to do what he can to lift spirits among the needy using food banks and soup kitchens run by his pal’s charity.

And he was at its Christmas party on Thursday, cracking jokes and posing for selfies with astonished homeless guests as they tucked into their festive dinner.

Paddy, 49, grew up in the terraced streets of Bolton with Billa Ahmed, 52, who set up the Homeless Aid UK charity in 2017, at first helping people living on the streets in Bolton and Greater Manchester. Now it also runs soup kitchens and food banks as far away as London and Glasgow.

Speaking at the party, Paddy says: “I’ve known Billa since I was a kid. He lived on the next street to me.

“I was doing Top Gear in Bolton a few years ago when I bumped into him. He told me what he was doing and to come down, so I did.

“I remember the length of the queue was shocking and now that I have come back it’s even busier.

ADMIRATION

“Weirdly, it’s a lovely atmosphere in here but tinged with sadness because you don’t want it to be full, but it is.

“It is a lovely evening but I wish we didn’t have to do it.”

He has nothing but admiration and praise for his old childhood mate and his volunteer helpers.