An appeal by a weekly newspaper to help raise funds for a homeless charity has exceeded its £100,000 target after cold weather prompted a surge in donations.

The Bath Chronicle joined forces with charity Julian House to support its annual campaign to raise money for homeless people in the city.

It aimed to raise £100,000 but actually brought in £107,000 after the bitter weather in December prompted generous readers to give more.

The paper has worked with the charity on its annual Christmas appeal for a decade and editor Sam Holliday said he was amazed at the response from the public.

He said: “We all know that things are very tough out there at the moment and a number of charities have reported that their income has been dramatically reduced.

“For Chronicle readers to therefore help raise this amount of money when times are so tough is a real tribute to all of them.

“I have been very proud of our coverage this year – mainly co-ordinated by our excellent reporter Felicity Crump – and I like to think we have helped not only raise a lot of money but also the importance of the plight of homelessness in Bath and beyond.”

Cecil Weir, fundraising manager for the charity, said he believed the bitter December had made a dramatic difference to the appeal.

He said: “Even though Julian House enjoys a broad spectrum of support from across the community we were worried that the current economic climate would make this year’s target hard to achieve.

“As ever the support of The Bath Chronicle was key to raising awareness and helping to generate greater understanding of the depth of issues which impact on homelessness.”