They took up the challenge and collected our Wish tokens in their thousands.

Meet the top 10 charities and good causes which triumphed in last year’s Examiner Wish campaign.

All harnessed their supporters to cut out the Wish tokens during the six weeks the campaign ran and the runaway winner was Huddersfield Hearts And Goals which amassed a staggering 68,274.

The charity is headed by 31-year-old Lee Orton from Ashbrow who is determined to save lives at football games after he collapsed with a heart attack while playing for Aimbry at Bradley Mills in a Huddersfield District League game against Brook Motors in August 2013.

Video Loading

Lee’s heart stopped for several minutes but he was saved by former nurse Mark Martin who happened to be watching the game.

Mr Martin carried out cardiac massage on Lee for more than 10 minutes in a bid to keep the blood flowing before Lee was resuscitated by rapid response paramedics armed with a defibrillator – and he now has a tiny defibrillator implanted in his chest that would immediately start his heart if it stopped again.

The £1,020 won by Huddersfield Hearts and Goals will go towards buying defibrillators and first aid training.

Lee said: “I think we had the support of the football community throughout Huddersfield when it came to collecting the tokens. Cardiac arrests are the biggest killer in the UK and with so many people playing football having defibrillators is so important. At the moment we are trying to get them to clubs where several teams play but they are also needed in schools as 16 youngsters die from cardiac arrests in UK schools every year.”

Coincidentally, the runner-up was charity Huddersfield Heartline which was set up 24 years ago and gives support to sufferers of coronary heart disease, and providing activities such as walking, swimming, bowling, dancing and social events. They collected 50,568 tokens to reap £755.

Examiner Wish campaign 2014 top 10 groups
Examiner Wish campaign 2014 top 10 groups

Chairman Geoff Delderfield said: “Last year we collected just over 20,000 tokens but this year it was more than 50,000 and I have to honestly say I don’t know how we did it. All our members are pensioners so I now call them the ‘golden oldies’. They have done all the work which has been phenomenal.”

Third place went to last year’s winner Ruddi’s Retreat which provides free seaside holidays in caravans it owns for the families of seriously ill children. They collected 49,316 tokens and the £737 will be spent on the new Ruddi’s coffee shop they are setting up in Linthwaite which will raise money for several cancer charities and Ruddi’s Retreat.

The rest of the top 10 was:

4 Huddersfield Down Syndrome Support Group, 45,215 tokens reaping £675

5 Yorkshire Air Ambulance, 41,038 (£613)

6 Newsome Panthers Junior Amateur Rugby League Football Club, 39,512 (£590)

7 Slaithwaite Brass Band, 33,836 (£505)

8 Berry Brow Pre-school Playgroup, 33,270 (£497)

9 Kirkwood Hospice, 30,832 (£460)

10 Kirkheaton Community Amateur Sports Club, 27,496 (£410)

Click here to take you back to more Huddersfield news.

Want to read, watch and hear more? You can download the FREE Examiner Apple App here, the FREE Examiner Android App here or you can view the paper as an e-edition on your Apple, Android or Kindle device by clicking here

To follow us on Twitter click here