A GRANDMOTHER was upset after children’s toys she donated to a Northwich charity shop were found in a skip.

After accidentally leaving a bag of Christmas decorations along with the toys, Beverley Stubbs’ daughter Adele Smallwood, 28, returned to find a number of the donations in a skip behind St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice shop in Witton Street.

Mrs Stubbs, from Winnington, was disappointed three-year-old grandson Ryan’s toys, including a Noah’s Ark, a drum and a Christmas teddy, were not put to good use.

“The Christmas decorations were upstairs in the staff room but all of the toys had been scrapped,” she explained.

“We could have given them to other people, but gave them to charity to try and help them raise a bit of money.

“Adele got most of them back but a few were missing. We were very angry, especially as they should be going to children.”

However, St Luke’s confirmed they have a strict policy on which toys cannot be resold, including toys without a CE Mark, with pieces missing, that are non-flame retardant or that have safety labels removed.

“We were sorry to hear that Mrs Stubbs was unhappy following her kind donation of goods to our shop in Northwich,” said Andrea Fragata Ladeira from St Luke’s.

“We have extended an invitation to her to meet with a relevant person here at St Luke's so we can fully explain our processes on receiving items.

“As a charity we are very grateful for all items donated, however there are some goods which for a number of reasons we cannot put on sale.

“Where possible, items are generally recycled or sold to a rag merchant with the proceeds then being fed back into the charity funding stream – this is not always possible and some need to be disposed of.

“We are extremely grateful for all donations received and would never knowingly dispose of anything which could be sold to support patient care at St Luke’s.”