A CAMPAIGN that makes sure less fortunate children have a happy Christmas has been overwhelmed by hundreds of gifts donated by readers of a satirical website.

Each year the Toys and Teens appeal run by charity Reading Family Aid (RFA) asks generous residents to donate gifts at drop off points across the town, with the mounds of goodies then sorted, packaged and sent out to families in need.

In 2016, 1,350 children from 600 families were visited by the team of white van men that pose as Father Christmas.

Just before this year's Toys and Teens closed on December 3, the campaign received an unexpected boost from an unlikely source - a group of satire websites.

Michele Pattison, publicity manager, said: "A group called The Satirists decided to run a Secret Santa appeal to benefit RFA among other charities.

"They run a number of pages on Facebook which include Newsthump, The Rochdale Herald, and The South End News Network."

The Satirists messaged Mrs Pattison and asked if they could appeal for gifts on behalf of Toys and Teens, the founder of Newsthump living close to Reading.

With the go ahead given, readers of the biting and brutal comedy news website set about sending presents.

Richard Smith, founder of Newthump, said: "People perceive satire to be quite cynical, but people go onto our sites to be entertained.

"We like to think people leave the websites with a smile on our face. We are followed by hundreds of thousands of people on social media, so we thought we could use that for some good."

Collectively, 3,000 gifts have been sent to five different toy appeals on behalf of The Satirists, with 700 making their way to Reading.

Mrs Pattison added: "We are absolutely overwhelmed by the incredible generosity of all the followers of the satirists pages, who have donated a toy, or more, to our toy appeal.

"To receive so many brand new toy donations, in the final days of our appeal has been fantastic.

"Each and every donated toy will make a huge difference to a child living in poverty here in Reading this Christmas. Thank you one and all."

The Toys and Teens appeal has finished for 2017, but to find out how to support similar projects go to www.readingfamilyaid.org/