North Ayrshire residents have been praised for their generosity in ensuring vulnerable children have gifts to open this Christmas.

More than 750 kids across the region will receive presents this year thanks to donations from locals.

Thousands of toys, books, sweets and gift vouchers were handed in to libraries over the course of four weeks as part of the North Ayrshire Christmas Gift Appeal.

The donations were divided into age categories by the Connected Communities team, before being packaged up to be delivered to the children.

Provost Ian Clarkson hailed the efforts of locals and said the donations would make a great difference to the families receiving them.

He said: “To say I am blown away by the generosity of North Ayrshire’s communities would be a complete understatement. Nothing could have prepared me for the enormous quantity of donations I witnessed.

“Each of the thousands of contributions will go a long way in making a real difference to someone’s Christmas who otherwise may have received very little.”

The gifts were provided by schools, businesses and individuals from across the region. They will be delivered to families who have been identified by North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership as being in need of some support this Christmas.

Because such a high number of donations were received, each child involved will receive at least three gifts. Older children will be given vouchers for high street and online stores to allow them to choose something more to their own taste.

Some Christmas food and treats were also donated which will now be used to build festive hampers for families in need.

The Provost added: “My sincere gratitude to every group, business, school, organisation and individual that donated, particularly as this year has been challenging for us all. I have no doubt that your support and kindness will bring smiles to many faces this Christmas morning.

“My thanks also go to our Libraries and Connected Communities Teams as well as our Health and Social Care Partnership who made all of this possible .

“I think it is fair to say that the Christmas spirit is well and truly alive in North Ayrshire.”