As December 25 approaches, newspapers are getting into the traditional festive spirit with Christmas campaigns for the less fortunate.

Up and down the country, papers are joining forces with local charities to do their bit.

Pictures of smiling children, and shoeboxes full of gifts, have been adorning the pages for weeks.

Some papers have been running Christmas parties for the needy, while others have been collecting toys themselves to distribute to less fortunate youngsters.

Here’s a selection from around the country:

• The Leicester Mercury has been collecting unwanted cuddly toys from readers to give to children from deprived families.

  Around 100 volunteers spent the day at a concrete storeroom sorting some 3,200 donated toys.

• Meanwhile, the Doncaster Free Press has been inundated with soft toys in a similar scheme.

  The gifts are now being distributed to underpriviledged children by the Doncaster Lions.

• But the Lennox Herald doesn’t draw the line at children – it has asked readers to play ‘secret Santa’ and donate anything they think might improve the life of someone in need.

  Readers have been encouraged to use their imagination and write down who they think would benefit from their donations when they hand them in.

• The Blackpool Gazette has been running a ‘Christmas Wishes’ campaign where the paper aims to give a fantastic present to a worthy cases.

  One example was a youngster with brittle bone disease, whose room was made into a shrine to his favourite character, Bob the Builder.

• And the Hampstead and Highgate Express has been doing its bit for the homeless by helping to organise soup kitchens in the Camden area.

  It is the second year the newspaper has run the campaign and this year, the kitchens have expanded their operations and are giving out useful gifts, such as warm shoes.

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