Toy Appeal

Date: 12 Jan 2010

St Johns and Clayton Square shopping centres staged their first ever toy appeal with kind hearted shoppers donating over 1000 toys in six weeks.  Generous retailers and local businesses organised local point of sale collections and raffle prizes to fill fifty-five large Santa sacks and 4 steel cages with gifts for local underprivileged children.  The huge response, promoted through local radio, included 4 large pool tables, an Xbox 360, 25 footballs and 25 giant Winnie the Pooh bears. 

Wilkinson raised an additional £800 and JJB Sports head office supplied a Chopper bike which was raffled and raised £700.  Boots and Sky in Clayton Square also collected substantial numbers of 3 for 2 toys.  Every retailer received a signed Certificate of Achievement from the centres to celebrate their efforts.

Arriva buses kindly donated a free bus for a day to help deliver the toys to 6 City Council children's homes, 4 women's refuges, a Somali refugee centre and several local community centres in Everton, Wavertree, Huyton, Bootle, Birkenhead and the city centre.  

Carol Cooper, marketing manager, St Johns and Clayton Square said, “We were amazed by the generosity of our retailers and shoppers; they really supported the appeal which reinforced the centres' commitment to the community.  There were lots of very happy children meeting the bus and greeting the DJ’s and team at every centre”.