Senior Retail Manager, Karen Witherley said, “In the New Year, we usually receive quite a lot of toys, which people have kindly donated to make space for all the new things that children have received for Christmas. This is a big help and and these items sell well.

“However, many of our customers rely on our shops – now, more than ever – so that they can to buy Christmas presents for their children; we are asking families if they can donate any no longer played with toys early this year to enable us to stock our shops with great gifts that will help make a child’s Christmas special.

“We need good quality donations of books, games and toys for our customers this Christmas and hope that our generous community can help.

“As well as benefitting local families who use our shops, all of the money raised from sales will be used to support Hospice patients this Christmas.”

The Hospice has nine retail shops throughout Hartlepool and East Durham, all of which are accepting donations. To find out where your nearest shop is, please click here or call the Hospice Warehouse on 01429 234143 to arrange for your items to be collected.