KNITTER Yvonne Hart has been clicking her needles to help The Press ensure that all York children wake up to presents on Christmas Day.

The grandmother, from Acomb, turned up at the newspaper’s headquarters in Walmgate laden with eight beautifully knitted cuddly teddy bears and snowmen to donate to our Toys & Tins Appeal.

Mrs Hart, 79, a regular Press reader, said she backed the appeal every year and had been making the toys since September.

The appeal aims to help save Christmas for some of York’s most vulnerable and needy children, assisting the York refuge run by Independent Domestic Abuse Services (IDAS), for people affected by domestic abuse or sexual violence, and the Salvation Army, as it prepares to fill food parcels for people in need and collect toys for children whose families would struggle to buy them gifts.

An IDAS spokeswoman has said such donations not only help families who have fled domestic abuse to celebrate Christmas together but also send a strong message of care and kindness from the community.

Major Andrew Dunkinson, of The Salvation Army,has said that without the Christmas hampers and toy parcels it distributes, needy families would be at risk of going hungry, or getting in to debt as they try to provide for their children over Christmas.

He said it provided Christmas presents to 641 children and additional food supplies to 223 families in need last year and it anticipated that the need would be as great this year, adding: “We depend on the kindness and generosity of people in York.”

We are asking readers to donate new toys, books, teddies, dolls and games, and non-perishable food during office hours.