Christmas Toy Appeal celebrates record year
The Shropshire Star and Storage King Christmas Toy Appeal has broken all records this year after a collection at a county hotel took it past the 1,200 mark.
Staff at the Falcon Hotel in Bridgnorth handed over more than 200 toys to the appeal this week, after setting up a collection point in the hotel bar.
The haul, donated by customers, friends of hotel staff, and Star readers who dropped them off over the past month, included dozens of Star Wars toys, books, and other gifts aimed at youngsters of all ages.
It is the fourth year the Shropshire Star has teamed up with our partners at Storage King for the appeal, which is this year supporting five organisations which work with youngsters.
But this year's appeal has smashed previous records, with almost 800 toys and gifts flooding in over the course of one week
They will now be shared out between The Harry Johnson Trust, which supports children with cancer, The Movement Centre which provides therapy for youngsters with cerebral palsy, Hope House children's hospice, Telford Young Carers and the children's wards at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.
Hotel general manager Mark McNicol said the generosity of people in Bridgnorth had been amazing.
Generous
"It's been incredible, really," he said. "We've had people coming in, just dropping off this stuff many times.
"It's good to see that people do think of those that don't have the same Christmas as them.
"We always knew our customers and friends were generous, but I think this has exceeded expectations."
Duty manager Fran Ferrero added: "It's great to see that people have brought so many toys in, it has been a huge success."
Gifts have continued to come in this week, as we now start the process of handing them over to the charities.
Pupils at Charlton School in Wellington have delivered 160 gifts to our head office in Ketley, Telford, while staff at Moba in Red Lees, Ketley, brought in £235 worth of gifts. Staff at Kraft Heinz in Hortonwood, Telford, also brought in a haul of gifts for youngsters of all ages.
Generous reader Michael Middleton and his family brought a vast array of gifts into Storage King's centre in Battlefield, Shrewsbury, as did a pre-school group from Whitchurch.
Shropshire Star editor Martin Wright said: "The Christmas Toy Appeal has always been one of the highlights of the year, but this time it has exceeded all expectations.
"It shows just shows the immense generosity of the people of Shrewsbury, and we owe a huge debt of thanks to everybody who has donated this year."
