The team at Children’s Hospice South West’s (CHSW) Little Harbour hospice in St Austell has been "absolutely overwhelmed" by the amount of toys delivered thanks to this year's Pirate FM Toy Appeal.

The appeal, supported by Flying Start Nurseries, ran for three weeks and in this time hundreds of people donated toys and gifts at local businesses which were acting as drop off points for the appeal.

Extended thanks go to Lamorna Express who managed the logistics of the Appeal and offered their courier service and storage space free of charge as a donation to CHSW.

Emma Lloyd-Cowell from Little Harbour said: “We never anticipated that the appeal would bring in this amount of toys to our special hospice. The generosity of the community in Cornwall is overwhelming. On behalf of everyone at Little Harbour.

"I would like to extend our thanks to everyone who donated to the Toy Appeal or who acted as a drop off point. Your hard work and generosity really will make such a difference to our children and families this Christmas.”

All ages were donating to the toy appeal including five-year-old Alex Laundy from Helston who, after listening to Pirate FM one evening when he was supposed to be in bed, asked his mum what a children’s hospice was.

After Alex’s mum explained what a children’s hospice was and what Little Harbour does Alex decided that with his pocket money he would like to buy some toys and donate them to the Toy Appeal.

Alex said “I bought a jigsaw, a puzzle and a fork lift truck because I wanted to be kind.”

Toys collected from Pirate FM’s Toy Appeal will be given out to the life limited children that Little Harbour supports as well as their well brothers and sisters over the festive period. Christmas is a difficult time of year for the families that CHSW support, all facing very uncertain futures and wanting to make every occasion as special and memorable as possible.

Little Harbour currently looks after over 60 families who use the hospice for short breaks, respite and palliative care, the hospice is also there for families in emergencies and for end of life care and bereavement support.

Some of those families will be staying at Little Harbour over the Christmas and New Year period and most of the families that the hospice supports will be attending the Christmas party where many of these toys and gifts will be given out. Little Harbour offers care and support to families and helps them to make the most of short and precious lives and this generous donation of toys and gifts will help the team to create a magical Christmas for those families.

Mark Peters, Managing Director at Pirate FM said “I feel very proud of what has been achieved here, it’s clear to me that the people of Cornwall have made sacrifices to donate extra presents to this appeal. I helped unload the vans that were bursting with toys at Little Harbour and it’s not until you see the sheer scale of it that you understand how deeply people feel about offering support.

"Every single person that donated, every single business that hosted a collection box and everyone else that enabled this to happen should also feel very proud of what has been the most successful toy appeal I have seen in 18 years of commercial radio. Thank you.”