Former police officer who spent time in care organises Christmas toy appeal in Chesterfield

Sam Bannister spent four years in a children’s home in Sheffield after his parents separated and his mum suffered mental health problems.

The 51-year-old, who went on to serve as a police officer with Derbyshire Constabulary, remembers his time in care fondly and this year decided to organise a Facebook appeal so he could donate toys to local children who find themselves in need this Christmas.

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Sam has now handed over toys worth more than £500 to the Action for Children charity’s Chesterfield office in Newbold.

"I have a deep connection with the care system and will always do my best to recognise what they did for me personally,” he said.

Sam still remembers his mum being unable to care for him and having to knock on other people’s doors to ask for food.

"Eventually social services scooped me up and put me into a children’s home on Reney Avenue in Sheffield,” Sam said.

"I spent four years there and they were the best days of my childhood. I was then fostered from the home and the rest is history.”

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He left school in 1985 and after various jobs joined the police force, where he was primarily based at Derbyshire Constabulary’s Ripley HQ.

In 2008, Sam was diagnosed with a long-term illness and needed a heart valve replacement so took early retirement from the police.

Sam says he has been overwhelmed by the amount of support he received since posting his Christmas toys appeal on Facebook.

“I've had a great response from friends and complete strangers, and have managed to buy lots of new toys for children in care at Christmas,” he added.

Action for Children is a national children’s charity which helps the most vulnerable children and young people break through injustice, deprivation and inequality.

The charity has an office in Newbold, Chesterfield, and several others across Derbyshire.

For more information about its work or to help out with fundraising yourself, visit the charity’s website.

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