A BUILDING contractor has been helping to give children a Christmas to remember.

Employees at Northallerton-based Walter Thompson collected gifts and donations for TFM Radio’s Cash for Kids Mission Christmas. The company has been running similar appeals for three years, but organiser Tessa Harker says this year’s response has been the best yet.

“We’ve been inundated with gifts and money from Walter Thompson staff and others from the Group. We’ve also received gifts from friends and family of staff members who’ve heard about the appeal,” said Ms Harker, contract administrator.

“The idea started three years ago when I was driving into work and heard the appeal on the radio. I just felt I wanted to do something, it can’t be right that in this day and age there are children waking up on Christmas Day who will get nothing.

“It shouldn’t be happening, and hopefully we’ll have made a difference. I spoke to the organisers at TFM who said the appeal was going well, but they were a bit short of gifts for teenage boys. So we’ve spent the money that people have donated on presents especially for them.”

Paul Hammerton, managing director of Walter Thompson, said he had been amazed at the generosity of employees.

“We started our collection in October and the response has been truly outstanding,” he added.