South Shields Ocean Road Community Association to host first Christmas toy collective for parents struggling with the Cost of Living Crisis

Sarah McKeown has organised the event, which is set to be held at Ocean Road Community Association this weekend.

The event is being run on a ‘no money needed’ basis – parents and carers are simply invited to drop in and take a couple of items per child for free.

Cllr McKeown also played a part in bringing the ‘warm spaces’ scheme to South Tyneside, after calling for them to be introduced to support families in September’s full council meeting.

The epresentative for the borough’s Beacon and Bents ward, Sarah McKeown said, “We know that so many people are really struggling with money at the moment.

"As well as the Warm Spaces initiative, I wanted to organise something that would offer practical help to those who have children in their lives and are worrying about the cost of buying toys this Christmas.

“It’s also an opportunity for people to pass on any good quality toys that their children may have outgrown and know that they’ll be put to good use, rather than thrown away to landfill.

"I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of donations and interest we’ve had from the local community already.”

Ocean Road Community Centre is accepting donations of clean, good quality toys between 9am - 6pm, from today (Thursday, November 24) until Saturday (November 26).

The Toy Collective will be held at the community centre on Saturday (November 26) and Sunday (November 27), from 10am – 1pm.