PRESTON Lodge High School (PLHS) is appealing to students and parents to donate to a reverse Advent calendar for a local community food project.

Instead of opening the door of the Advent calender to reveal a chocolate, participants do the giving and donate items to East Lothian Sunday Fresh Chicken Dinner Boxes.

The aim of the project is to provide a Christmas turkey dinner box to all those in need this winter.

Items sought are: shortbread, mince pies, turkey gravy granules, Christmas crackers, small boxes of chocolate, boxes of biscuits, hot chocolate, spray cream, Christmas cake, ham stock cubes, tinfoil and oatcakes.

Parents, carers or friends of the school can contribute to the collection by passing items to Mrs Robertson’s office or by ringing the buzzer outside the school to alert a member of staff.

Visitors are still unable to enter the school due to Covid-19 regulations, so a member of the office team will collect donations from the door.

The school is also seeking sanitary products, toothbrushes and other toiletries to donate to Women’s Aid.

Julia Robertson, deputy headteacher at PLHS, said: “Women’s Aid are very grateful for our donations each year.

“The Christmas period is a time when domestic violence increases and many women have to flee their homes without basic provisions.

“Any contributions would be very much appreciated and well used.”