Record 4,000 gifts donated as part of Stoke Newington Winter Toy Appeal

A record number of gifts have been donated as part of the annual Winter Toy Appeal run by a Stoke Newington group.

The charity drive, run by the Local Buyers Club in partnership with estage agent Location Location, has collected enough toys for more than 4,000 youngsters, as well as a huge amount of food for Hackney Foodbank.

They will go to children across Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Tower Hamlets who would otherwise not receive presents.

They are distributed via schools, hostels, refuges, children's centres, temporary accommodation teams and food banks. Some 2,700 toys were distributed via the Ivy Street Family Centre to children in need in Hackney.

Vicky Bibiris, who helps to run the appeal, said: "It was touch and go there for a while - with just a week to go we didn't have enough toys to meet the demand! But the public was quick to respond to our calls for more donations and, in the end, we had more toys than ever.

"It's wonderful to know that on Christmas morning over 4,000 children who have had the hardest of years, will have a special gift to open thanks to the kindness of strangers."

Basil Fansa, of the Local Buyers Club, which has run the appeal for six years, added: "Thousands of children in London are enduring unimaginable poverty. The system is clearly broken but, until things change, it's wonderful that communities pull together to support local food banks and to give to appeals like this one. We'd like to thank everyone who donated."