Billy (10) and Mollie (6) tragically and unexpectedly lost their mum at the beginning of this week under stressful and traumatic circumstances for both them and their family.

Unfortunately Mel had no money saved and hadn't bought either children any presents for christmas as she was planning to do it at the end of this month.

Both children have been moved into their auntie's house this week and given the circumstances currently have a very small amount of their own belongings (clothes, shoes, toys etc.)

The entire family have been through an incredibly difficult time - especially Billy and Mollie.

The family was unaware of any illness and given that this has come completely out of the blue, we want to make sure that Billy and Mollie have a good Christmas where they can start fresh with their lives at their aunties house.

Mel loved her children more than anything in the world and we as a family want to make sure that things carry on as normal as they possibly can for the children and that they have as good a christmas as they possibly can under the circumstances.

At the moment it's very hard for the children to understand what's happening, why it's happening and what's going to happen now and we want to give them something to look forward to and positive memories this year so that they can start fresh in their new lives with everything they need.

At the moment they have school clothes and a small amount of necessities as well as a small amount of toys between them with not much else of their own so any donations of any kind will be of extreme help to the family.

With the cost of the funeral and other expenses surrounding mel and the children the family will struggle incredibly to provide them with things such as toys. Any money raised will be put towards buying both kids anything they need/toys for Christmas - any additional money will be put into a savings account for them.

Any items donated will be passed on to other children in need when possible.