Members of a West Dunbartonshire youth group have put on their Christmas boots to raise money for their community foodshare’s Christmas toy appeal.

The area’s Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV) aimed to complete a virtual team walkathon during the month of November with a target of reaching one million steps and raising £500 for toys, clothes and vouchers for West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare Christmas toy appeal.

However, the Dumbarton and Clydebank team worked together to smash their original target which was reached within the second week of the challenge and have successfully walked over 3 million steps.

PC Dale Logsdon, the PSYV coordinator, told the Post: “It is amazing what the young people can do. I was really worried to start with that the target was set too high, but after the first few days I came to realise how determined these young people were to help their local community.

“We wanted to get together to do this, but with the restrictions in place with decided it was best to do it socially-distanced that way each member could do as many steps as they were comfortable with doing.”

The young members also managed to raise £618.43 where £550 was spent on what was required and £70 was donated as a cash sum.

This money was used to purchase toys to cover a wide range of age groups in Clydebank, including sensory toys for vulnerable children.

Dale added: “This was a good opportunity for our group to understand the importance of these charities in our local area over Christmas. These young people have really exceeded themselves this year and I couldn’t be more proud.

“On behalf of PSYV Clydebank and Dumbarton I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who supported this year’s fund-raising event and hope they have an enjoyable festive season with their loved ones.”

In addition to their toy bank mission, the PSYV group also put together a 60-minute hospital radio show to bring Christmas smiles to patients across Greater Glasgow and Clyde including festive songs, messages of support and jingles.

A spokesperson from West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare said: “We want to say a huge thank you to Dale and WD Police Scotland Youth Volunteers who dropped off lots of fantastic donations for the toy bank. Well done on your fund-raising.”