TRANMERE Rovers kick off their Christmas appeal to help needy families across Wirral this weekend.

The club has teamed up with the charity Home Start Wirral and will be collecting new toys, Christmas gifts and food to distribute to local families in need.

Collections will take place from this Saturday, November 7 until December 12 to enable distribution to the parents at least 10 days before Christmas.

In a statement, the club said: "Let's make it a magical Christmas for local families in need.

"Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy for families, but for those who are struggling to make ends meet, it can be a time of crisis with little or no cash spare for the Christmas presents and festive food that most of us take for granted.

"So if your children have some unwanted and unopened gifts lying in a cupboard, or you can spare a little extra when out doing your Christmas shopping to buy a gift to help make a local youngster's Christmas special.

"Please contribute to this appeal."

There are two ways you can help.

You can either bring items to Prenton Park for donation, or organise a collection of gifts at your workplace to be contributed to the collection.

On match days, there will be collection points in the FanZone and in the shop.

On non-match days, items can be taken to the shop, which is currently temporarily located in a Portakabin in the car park, or the Rec Centre café on weekday evenings.

Items needed for collection are:

  • Gifts for children of all ages from birth to 16 years old – unopened and unwrapped,
  • Food which is non-perishable or has an expiry date on or after December 26, no food requiring refrigeration.