More than 400 gift vouchers and £13,000 has been donated to the council’s annual Christmas appeal.

The donations will be given to 600 children and young people from across Caerphilly County Borough, who were at risk of not receiving a gift this Christmas.

This includes newborn babies, children and teenagers.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Caerphilly County Borough Council was unable to accept gift donations, instead asking residents to donate a gift voucher or make a donation online.

Social workers, who are in direct contact with the families, have since used the donations to buy gifts for the children in time for Christmas Day.

Residents and businesses alike donated to the appeal, which began collecting donations in November.

More than 1,000 gifts were donated to the appeal by a number of local businesses and organisations, including the Tesco store in Ystrad Mynach, Asda Caerphilly, Creditsafe and Link Financial and more.

Gifts were also given to Platform, Homestart, Llamau, Action for Children and Ty’r Fesen homeless centre as part of the appeal.

The council’s cabinet also made a £870 donation towards the scheme.

Councillor Shayne Cook, the council’s Cabinet Member for Social Services, said: “Our Operation Santa Appeal would not be successful or even possible without the kindness and generosity of our residents, schools and local businesses.

“Similarly to last year, 2021 has been extremely difficult for everyone and because of that, it was more vital than ever to ensure that children received a gift this Christmas. Thank you to everyone for supporting this worthy cause.”