A CHARITY shop suffered costly damage during an overnight break-in.

Burglars forced their way into the Helen & Douglas House furniture shop in Didcot at the weekend, and stole money.

The shop in Broadway, which raises money for the Oxford-based children's hospice, was raided at some point between Saturday evening and the early hours of Sunday morning.

Two young sisters, whose mum volunteers at the shop, have donated all of their pocket money in a heartwarming attempt to replenish donations.

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Shop manager Shaun Morris said: "The burglars caused a lot of damage to our back door, which will be costly to repair, and money was stolen.

"‘It is very sad that anyone would steal from a charity shop, which is raising money to provide vital care for local families with terminally ill children."

Mr Morris told volunteers about the burglary on Sunday morning, including Jemma Jennings from Didcot, who has been volunteering there for four years.

After hearing about what happened, her daughters Tilly, six, and Lexi, seven, chose to donate all of their own money to the charity shop.

Tilly said in a letter: "I was upset about what the naughty people did to the shop.

"I like to donate £5.03 to you out of my money box. Hope this helps."

Lexi said in her letter: "I was very sad to hear that the shop my mum works at got broken into.

"I would like to donate £4.67p all my money out of my money box. Hope this helps."

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Mr Morris said: "We would like to thank our customers and volunteers for their continuing amazing support, which will hopefully help make up this shortfall to our funds for repairs and loss of money.

"I would particularly like to thank children Tilly and Lexi for donating everything they had in their money boxes - we were so touched by this amazing act of generosity.

"It also helped out a lot because we had no change in the till and this gave us some cash to use when we opened on Sunday."

Thames Valley Police are investigating the burglary and anyone who saw anything suspicious can call 101 or report information via the force's website.

Supporters of the hospice are welcome to offer help or donations via 01235 818253 or pop into the Didcot shop.