This reminds us at Christmas that people are good OW

Nick Knowles on festive show to build wellbeing hub

- MATT ROPER

He is the bearded, benevolent man who makes Christmas wishes come true, and he's standing right next to me carrying a big sack over his shoulder.

No, I'm not in Santa's Lapland lair helping the big man spread festive joy.

I'm on a busy building site in Harlow, Essex, with Nick Knowles, helping this big man mix cement... helping to make dreams become reality.

DIY SOS The Big Build's Christmas special has quickly become a seasonal staple when our hearts are warmed as we watch Nick and his band of builders help a deserving cause with a major construction project that will enable them to change more people's lives.

And this year will be just as magical as, joined by the cast of EastEnders and local volunteers, he transforms a derelict bungalow into a wellbeing hub for a mental health charity.

I've joined Nick on day three. The site, on the outskirts of Harlow, is awash with activity and hundreds of tradespeople and other volunteers who have answered the presenter's call for help.

I help Nick carry bags of gravel and shovel cement as he gushes about his latest Big Build project and the woman who inspired it. Angie Hannibal set up the Butterfly Effect Wellbeing in 2019 after her mother took her own life, quitting her career to help people like her find meaning and purpose with self-help groups, therapy and counseling for those struggling.

Angie, who had been working out of a Portakabin, was gifted an empty building by the council, but it was in such a state of disrepair it needed a total refurb to make it fit for purpose, so Nick and his team stepped in.

He says: "She's amazing. She just wanted to do something nice in her mum's memory but began to see more people needed help, couldn't turn anyone down, and the thing just got bigger and bigger.

"I asked her if it ever gets a bit too much and she replied, 'Every day."