“I started avoiding anywhere with a Santa,” said a single father who struggled to get through Christmas.

The Darlington dad spoke out in a bid to encourage others to donate to the charity toy appeal that helped him give his children a Christmas Day last year.

Wishing to stay anonymous, he thanked those who donated to the Salvation Army’s annual Darlington toy appeal.

He said: “When their mother couldn’t look after the kids, I was happy to step up, but I’ll never forget the feeling I had at Christmas.

“It’s awful when you’re walking through town and everything’s about presents and money.

“My kids were getting excited while I was looking in charity shops to see what I could afford and I even started avoiding anywhere with a Santa.”

The dad was overjoyed when told the family would receive gifts from the toy appeal.

He said: “I liked that I could wrap the presents for the kids – they arrived unwrapped with wrapping paper for me to use and it made our Christmas Day.”

Job losses meant another Darlington family struggled to get through the festive season last year.

A mother said: “When my husband lost his job, we went from doing OK to wondering how we were going to make it through each week.

“We didn’t know what to do for our children for Christmas – we worked out if we put the kids to bed early, we could switch the heating off and use that extra money to buy second-hand toys.”

She added: “We were told we were on the toy appeal list and our kids would be getting brand new toys – I’ll never forget that Christmas Day and their faces when they came downstairs and saw the presents.”

This year, the family are in a better place financially and will be donating to the toy appeal, which runs until Sunday, November 30.

Donations of tinned food and new toys and gifts suitable for under-16s can be dropped off at The Northern Echo offices in Priestgate, Darlington between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday, at The Salvation Army citadel on Thompson Street East and at Footprints bookshop on Skinnergate from 9am until 5pm Monday to Saturday.

Financial donations can be made at Footprints or through The Salvation Army. For more details, call 01325 380994 or visit darlingtonsalvationarmy.org.uk.