POLICE officers have helped to bring some festive cheer to the lives of very ill children.

Officers from Thornaby Police Station collected £250 from their tea fund thoughout the year and have used the cash to buy toys for the children at Zo's Place.

Zo's Place, at Normanby, near Middlesbrough, is the North-East's first hospice for babies and very young children, and was opened earlier this year.

Based at the former Convent of Mercy building, the unit caters for four babies or children and is funded by donations from people across the North-East. It costs £400,000 a year to run.

Sergeant Dave Hill, of Thornaby Police, said that officers at the station were proud to donate the toys to Zo's Place.

He said: "We wanted the money to be spent locally and I can't think of a more appropriate place at this time of year than to the children of Zo's Place."

The toys range from wooden railways, puzzles, cars, Disney characters and fluffy toys to games and jigsaws.