Christmas toys for children destroyed by fire

The charity says while the soot can be wiped off, the smell of the fire cannot

Thousands of pounds' worth of toys and gifts, which were meant as Christmas presents for children living in poverty have been damaged in a fire.

A charity worker from Wrexham, who has been collecting the toys, said she "didn't think they could pick themselves up", after the loss.

For the past five years Jane Wedley, and her colleague Victoria Davies, from the North Wales and North West England Passport Rotary Club, have been making up bags of brand new toys for children referred to them by schools across the county.

Their unit on was full, when a fire in the adjacent building caused smoke damage to their stock, making everything unusable.

The charity, which fundraises for a number of community projects across the year, buys the presents brand new, starting as early as the summer, and tailors each bag of gifts, taking care not to repeat presents given the year before.

Ms Wedley said they had "lost everything" because even though soot can be cleaned off some items, the smell of the smoke had penetrated everything".

However, she said that the reaction of the community had "lifted us up", after individuals and organisations from around the county offered their help and support.

The Christmas toy bags were ready to send out to 85 children in the county

"At first, we just felt overwhelmed. It's the mental effort of starting again, of choosing and buying the toys. But we can't let anyone down. We just have to start again. Seeing that the Wrexham community cares - we feel less alone."

Ms Wedley said the Wrexham Miner's rescue centre was one of the organisations which had offered to help, with volunteers there remaking the labels and craft items attached to the gift bags.

She added that a campaign has also been launched to raise the funds to buy new presents.

"It's just a question of time now, but friends and supporters will roll their sleeves up and muck in. We have to do it."