DUDLEY youngsters have sack full of toys ready to be dished out to children spending the festive season in hospital.

Pupils at Sutton School and Specialist College have been busy holding raffles, tombolas and selling handmade Christmas cards to raise cash to buy dolls, games and other goodies for patients at Birmingham Children's Hospital's Ward 11.

It's hoped the gifts will spread some Christmas cheer among the children, who are being treated for a range of congenital heart defects and cardiac conditions.

The toys have been handpicked by a group of students, who went to intu Merry Hill on Friday to splash the cash with Maxine Baker, the Scotts Green Close school's skills for life coordinator.

She said she they had "shopped until they dropped" and had a "fab day" choosing gifts, adding: "We decided to help the children's ward as I noticed they were short of toys when my niece was there after two minor operations."