Boring socks, shower gel sets in a scent you can’t stand or yet another cookbook? Sometimes it really is better to give than receive, if what you receive isn’t what you wanted… which is where Diverse Abilities Great Christmas Present Amnesty comes in.

Throughout January, Dorset’s disability charity will accept unwanted and new items from the festive season including beauty products, shower gel sets, cookbooks, alcohol, food hampers and more.

The only products excluded from the collection are electrical products and the donations will be used for raffles and fundraising during the year.

Diverse Abilities’ fundraising officer Claire Cooper said: “We’ve all received that one present from a distant relative that doesn’t know you all that well, or even received duplicates of the same thing because some people know you really well! “These presents don’t need to linger in the back of the cupboard anymore as we will make good use of them throughout the year.” Gifts can be dropped off at the Diverse Abilities head office, above Langside School in Poole on weekdays between 10am and 3pm. Individuals, community groups and businesses can host their own collections to be dropped off at the head office together. “If you want to host your own collection, then we want to hear from you – we’ve got a helpful fundraising pack to support you along the way and explain how these contributions make a huge difference in our fundraising events,” said Claire.

The address of the school is Langside School, Langside Avenue, Poole, BH12 5BN, on arrival use the doors for the main office – to the right of the main school doors diverseabilities.org.uk/present amnesty.

By Faith Eckersall
newsdesk@stourandavon.net