The Our Goole Christmas Toy Appeal

This year Our Goole is launching its first Christmas toy appeal with the hope of collecting gifts for children in the local area who otherwise might not receive one.

Father Christmas will be leaving piles of presents in the homes of children across the world in just a few weeks, but for some children it’s just another day. Our aim this year is to ensure as many children as possible in our area receive a gift from Father Christmas.

Lisa Warrener, Director of CreateTVT which owns Our Goole, said: ‘As a team we wanted to do something to make a difference in our community this Christmas and what better way than to help get gifts to children facing difficult circumstances who might not get a gift otherwise? The thought of a child potentially waking up on Christmas morning without a gift to open is heartbreaking and it happens right on our doorstep for a wide variety of reasons.

‘We know how generous the people of Goole are, and we’ve seen first hand over the years how the locals pull together in a tremendous show of community spirit when they need to – we’ve reported on it on many occasions. So, we also know that the people of Goole will be onboard with us when it comes to helping make Christmas special for disadvantaged children in our area.

‘Equally, many children would love to be able to hand their parents, or care giver, a gift on Christmas morning and are unable to do so, again for a number of reasons. We are therefore also collecting gifts for children to give to their parents. Unwanted gift sets, toiletries or duplicated gifts you have received yourself would all make great presents for children to hand to their own parents.’

The gifts will be wrapped and distributed to relevant families via the local support networks for children in Goole and surrounding villages. All gifts must be received by Friday, December 15th so we can wrap and distribute them in time for the big day.

Lisa added: ‘We would love to make the toy appeal an annual one and we hope the people of Goole and surrounding areas rally together to make this happen. So many of our children receive dozens of presents, could you perhaps just add one more to your shopping bag for a disadvantaged child?’

Drop-off points: Specsavers, Goole; Housesetc, Goole; Junction 37 Filling Station, Howden; Carlton Supermarket, Carlton; Instaglam, Goole; Waterways Museum, Goole.

All the gifts will go to local children in either Goole or the surrounding villages.

Suggested gifts: 0-3: Teddy bears, dolls, clothes, bath toys, puzzles. 3-5: Dolls, action figures, toy vehicles, colouring books, story books, puzzles, games. 5-9: Books, stationery, educational games. 9-12: Educational games, clothes, gloves, hats, scarves, stationery. 13+: Make-up and toiletries, hair accessories, clothes, books. Parents: Toiletries, gift sets

All gifts must be new, unused and unwrapped. If you’d like your place of work to collect gifts for the appeal, please contact us on news@ourgoole.co.uk so we can share your details on our social media channels and website. If you are short on space in your office or place of work, we can arrange to collect the gifts from you weekly.

If you’d like to make a cash donation, please contact us via our Facebook page, Our Goole. Thank you.