A COMMUNITY group committed to ensuring children in the Wee County receive a Christmas present are gearing up for another busy festive period.

Love in a Box Clackmannanshire have been providing gifts for children in Clackmannanshire for the past 10 years and are expecting another busy Christmas this year.

The team, made up of founders Sharon McCafferty and Margaret Douglas alongside Victoria Struthers, Amanda Smith, Marie Smith, Jennie Syme and Lynsay Hill, will be competing a 10 mile walk across the Wee County on Saturday, October 1.

All money raised on the day, which is one mile for each year the group has been helping young people, will go towards buying presents for those less fortunate once again.

Reflecting on a whirlwind 10 years, Sharon told the Advertiser: "It's unbelievable. It's actually really strange.

"Last year was the 10th time we'd done it but when we actually counted back it was 10 years since me and Margaret had the conversation and here we are 10 years later."

Margaret, who works for Clacks Council, and Sharon, who helped the Alloa Family Centre through her previous role with the council, had a conversation about doing something together to give back to those in need.

Sharon continued: "We thought we could link in with the family centre to see if they can help us because they know the most vulnerable families.

"It was under 100 families we got names for so we started our Facebook group and took it from there.

"It's all been community, local people who live where we do donating."

With less than 100 families in the first year, the team supported more than 750 families last Christmas and Sharon expects that number to rise with the cost of living crisis.

Since the group's inception they've worked with other Clacks groups including the Alloa Round Table, and are now preparing for another huge year.

However, it is the donations that really make the group's efforts possible.

"At the core of it are the people who donate," Sharon continued. "There's people who I see once a year every year for the last 10 years and they message me saying they've got their donation bag ready to be picked up.

"We couldn't do it without them.

"I think [another] reason people like it is because when you're buying something you could be buying something for someone in your street and you don't know it because it's local."

The group's sponsored walk will talk place on Saturday, October 1, beginning at Dollar and ending in Alloa, going via Tillicoultry, Alva, Sauchie and Tullibody.

Visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/liab2022 to make a donation to the group's fundraiser.