TWO little boys have been praised for emptying the contents of their piggy bank to help those in need at Christmas.

Harvey Bagnall, aged four, and his two-year-old brother Oscar made the selfless gesture at Newton Aycliffe Neighbourhood Police Team’s town centre grotto.

The festive fundraiser on Sunday was collecting cash to support a Christmas day meal at the town’s Neville Parade Community Centre for more than 100 people.

Harvey and Oscar’s father, James Bagnall, said: “We sat our children down to have a chat with them after school and we explained that there are families out there who are alone at Christmas that don’t have mams and dads or immediate family and that Santa was taking donations to feed these people over these joyful but sometimes sad times.

“My son Harvey said ‘why don’t we fill our money box up and we can take it down to Santa to make the lonely people happy’.

"We jumped at this and started to fill it up. We understand it wasn’t a lot of money but it was very joyful to see our children fill it up then give to Santa.”

In less than 24 hours, a post about the boys’ generosity on Facebook was shared almost 2,500 times and attracted more than 100 comments from members of the public praising them.

Mr Bagnall added: “We can’t believe the Newton Aycliffe Police Facebook page has got the response that it has. We are so proud of our boys.”

The beat team was so shocked by their donation that they set out to identify them and now hope to return the favour with a visit to Harvey’s school, Stephenson Way Academy, this week.

PC Mike Welch said: “Something like this takes you aback when you try and do something positive for the community.

"We know how much of a nice place Newton Aycliffe is to work and how good the community spirit is but we never imagined two kids under five would think of giving money over to Santa and doing something for others and not for themselves. It’s testament to their parents.”

The free event held on December 2 and Sunday was supported by charity champion Honest John Hilton, Livin and Tesco.

It raised more than £500 and was attended by over 1,000 people.

The boys have also been offered the chance of a free bounce session at ROF 59 in the town.