Children in hospital this Christmas period have been given personalised soft toy reindeers as part of an initiative run by staff at The Press.

Kelly Hartley and Maria Lewis, of the paper’s advertising and sales department, organised the now annual donation of soft toys to York Hospital’s children’s ward.

The 60 reindeer were kindly donated by the Boyes store in Goodramgate, York, and advertisers in The Press were encouraged to sponsor them for the needy children.

Kelly said: “Each toy had a gift tag wishing the child a merry Christmas from the business that sponsored it.

“We do it every year, but we made an extra special effort this year.

“The hospital was over the moon with the donations and the businesses were more than happy to get involved.”

Ten per cent of the revenue from the adverts will be donated to the children’s ward, and the scheme was up on revenue from last year.