OVER 500 little ones woke up to surprise gifts on Christmas Day thanks to the generosity of those who donated to a toy appeal.

For three years, Darlington's Silent Santa Appeal has been collecting donations of wrapped shoeboxes filled with Christmas goodies to give to children who would otherwise wake up empty-handed on December 25.

Collecting a total of 300 in its first year, the appeal has seen a huge response from Darlington residents and collected over 500 gifts this Christmas.

The organiser of the appeal, who remains anonymous in spirit of the Silent Santa collection, first began the appeal after visiting a school where they were told that many of the children would not receive a Christmas present.

They said: "It is an incredible example of the real and most important act of giving at this wonderful time of the year, particularly when those many people who gave their time and paid for wonderful presents will not see a child's face light up when handed the gift.

"They will not see them smile and they will not receive an appreciative 'thank you' but all will understand the joy that their present will give."

"I am indebted to Lingfield Point Management team for allowing me to use an office to store all of the boxes and arranging for free access for my wife and I to spend time sorting and wrapping boxes.

" I am appreciative also of Darlington Fire Fighters who have delivered all gifts which would have taken me a lot of time had I had to do this myself and I must thank my wife who starts putting boxes together in January for the following Christmas and the the incredible amount of time she spends checking, labelling and at times wrapping many boxes.

"The appeal is called 'silent' because everyone including myself are anonymous to the children and I have no idea who most of the people who give are.

"I would have preferred to thank each person individually but as I cannot I would like to convey a big thank you on behalf of the children and myself to them all."