A charity brought a smile to the faces of hundreds of young cancer patients this Christmas.
The Huddersfield-based Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust collects gifts for young people every year.
The target was to collect 500 selection boxes to send around the country for young patients who wouldn’t be home for Christmas.
But this year, campaign driving force Clinton Stringer was overwhelmed by the success of the appeal.
Instead of 500 selection boxes, there have been donations of well over 1,000 gifts, from CDs and DVDs to writing pads and diaries.
Clinton, 54, who runs the Kirklees Construction Skills Academy in Milnsbridge, said: “The response has been fantastic. We were just overwhelmed.”
Freemason Clinton, the former worshipful master of the Beaumont Lodge in Kirkburton and the De Warren Lodge in Halifax, started fundraising for the Laura Crane Trust two years ago.
In his year of office at the Halifax lodge he raised £2,300.
Clinton devoted his time to the charity – which specifically helps young people – after losing three close relatives to cancer within just three years.
His mother Dorothy, sister Karen Stringer and mother-in-law Mary Secker all died and Clinton vowed to do his bit.
His daughters Nichol, 19, and Naomi, 24, both work as volunteers for the charity.
Clinton added: “The support we have had this year from people all around West Yorkshire, local freemasons and the Sikh community of Huddersfield has been unbelievable and very humbling.
“We are so grateful.”
Clinton and fellow freemason Manjit Singh collected donations from X Service Taxis in St George’s Square, Huddersfield, and the Waves Centre in Slaithwaite.
