YOUNG patients at the Edinburgh Children's Hospital will receive Christmas cheer thanks to the kindness of one Dalgety Bay family.

The Fyfe family handed over a mammoth donation of selection boxes and other gifts to the hospital, something which has become a festive tradition for Nichola, David and their children, Alex, Jorgie and Derryn.

They first got the idea after Alex, 14, had been in hospital over Easter and received an unexpected gift of an Easter Egg when Nichola feared he would go without.

"As a parent, I had not thought about getting him an Easter egg with all the things going on – it was the last thing to think of," she explained. "It was my night to stay and I remembered while lying in bed that it was going to be Easter Sunday and he would not be getting an egg.

"I woke up and there was one for him. That is where the selection box idea came from. It has got really big. Our friends just presume we are doing it and we have been really lucky this time.

"We have got a couple of friends who have got businesses and my son plays in a football team so we have had all different people donating."

The donations were dropped off at the Edinburgh Sick Kids hospital last week.

"It was an emotional visit. It always is but I think more so now with everything going on in the world," added Nichola, who has raised more than £25,000 for the hospital and for SANDS since losing Alex's twin brother, Callan, at childbirth.

"It has been tough for everybody but people are still so generous. We are blown away by the generosity from everyone. We have a connection – that is why we are passionate about it – but people are still doing it purely to support us.

"Alex is also very passionate about it, we are so proud of him. We had a talk to say to him that people are not going to give every year but he is really keen to keep it on."