JOHNSTONE residents have been thanked for donating hundreds of Christmas presents to local children in need.

Members of the Johnstone Business Consortium (JBC) and support service Families First asked people to bring gifts to the bandstand in Houstoun Square – and were delighted with the response.

The ‘Every Child Deserves’ event is held every year and JBC also plans to provide 55 food hampers to local families so they can enjoy a Christmas dinner.

Allan Henderson, who is chair of JBC and runs a florist shop in Johnstone town centre, said: “This is our sixth year of doing the event and the response this time was phenomenal.

“I think there were easily up to 700 gifts donated and it shows you how our community really does stick together.

“We organised this event with Families First, who are a local agency that work in the Johnstone community and help to identify worthy cases.

“We thank the people of Johnstone for their generosity.”