Christmas gifts donated to My Sister's House

Five Year 8 Santa-pupils joined one Mrs Elf-Barker to deliver hundreds of presents to the charity My Sister's House in Bognor Regis.

After loading up the sleigh-minibus at the Prep and Pre-Prep, the Christmas team headed to The Track, in Bognor Regis. The charity held three gifting days there to which parents could come and chose Christmas presents for their children who might otherwise have to go without. The parents were also encouraged to choose a gift for themselves, and they were given a bag of toiletries and a food voucher.

My Sister's House CEO, Julie Budge, said: “We are so very grateful to your school. We had 350 families booked in to visit the centre and every gift donated went to a family in need. This huge act of generosity gives women and families hope when the chips are down because they know there are people in the community who care about them.

“Christmas can put so much pressure on families - it’s a lovely thing to give and reduce their stress. Thank you all so much.”

Helen Barker, who heads up the Westbourne House Charity Committee, said: “We are really pleased we have been able to help and we are very grateful a few of our pupils delivered the presents so they could see and hear what it will mean to these families.

The pupils were amazed by the amount of gifts that have been collected from all over Sussex but saddened to realise that so many people are struggling, especially at Christmas. Archie said: “It was incredibly moving to see the piles of presents that will be given to children that really need them.

Elizabeth said: “I’m so thankful to be able to give a present like that at Christmas time.” Caitlin added: “It was lovely to see how generous our local Sussex community is.”