A giant raccoon welcomed people to a Christmas tree sale in aid of the charity inspired by the life of a five-year-old boy who died after battling a brain tumour for year.

Zoom the "looming raccoon" waved down cars in Abingdon as the family of Skye Hall sold the pine trees to raise money for Blue Skye Thinking, which supports research and treatments into childhood cancers.

The family were helped by Oxford Edens who supplied the trees which were sold at a discounted price at the Boundary Pub in Oxford Road.

70 trees were pre-ordered before the actual sale on Saturday, and it is understood more have been sold.

Mother of Skye, Sally Hall told how a raccoon suit helped her face the world and hide her tears while fundraising shortly after his death.

The 37-year-old said: "In the early days after Skye died I knew I had a lot of appointments to keep to raise awareness for Blue Skye Thinking but was too grief-stricken, so wearing the mascot allowed me to go out.

"Today has been great, despite it being windy we've done really well, we had face paints and I thank everyone who helped us out.

"As a charity we just cannot stop fundraising. I cannot stop and I won't."

Six-year-old Amy Davies, who was a friend of Skye's added: "We are doing this because we want to raise more and more money for Blue Skye Thinking, because Skye was my friend."

Oxford Edens, a gardening company owned by Gavin Power, said they wanted to help the cause because they felt touched by Skye's story.

His wife, Ginny, said the couple had two boys of a similar age to Skye.
She added: "Skye was so brave and no child should ever have to go through what he did."