A PEEBLES youth group is preparing to pack and deliver festive family treats for Christmas throughout Tweeddale.

On Sunday, December 11, with help from an army of volunteers, Grace Mitchell from the Peeblesshire Youth Trust has once again co-ordinated the delivery of around 80 hampers and over 500 presents.

Working closely with the charity Cash for Kids, the group will make sure that there is no family in Tweeddale who needs to worry about stocking the cupboards or Santa delivering on time.

Candy Rafferty, Manager at Cash for Kids commented: "Radio Borders Cash for Kids is extremely grateful for the help given by the Peeblesshire Youth Trust in collecting and delivering the Mission Christmas toy sacks for the Peebles area.

"This year, with 153 children on the lists supplied by schools, social workers and other organisations, they will need a very large van!"

Shona Haslam, Programme Manager with Peeblesshire Youth Trust said: "This can be such a stressful time for so many families. With increasing demands on resources we understand that buying the little extras at Christmas such as chocolate, biscuits, fresh fruit and essentials like pasta and rice, can be an issue for many families.

"Working with local services, schools and other local bodies we identify which families would benefit from receiving a hamper and we now deliver close to 80 across the area.”

“We are working with Cash for Kids to make sure that Santa knows exactly how many children there are in the household and he makes sure that everyone gets a present on Christmas morning.”

Katie Buckingham from Peebles Foodbank said: “We would like to thank the generosity of the public, our Christmas collection at Tesco has been our most successful ever.

"It is great to know that so many families in Tweeddale will benefit and we love working with Peeblesshire Youth Trust on this initiative.”

Many local businesses and organisations have helped the Youth Trust to complete the task this year including all of the churches, supermarkets Sainsburys and Tesco, the Cardrona Scouts, Rotary Club of Peebles and Peebles Foodbank.