More than 100 carers have received Christmas goodie bags from a wealth management company.

Quilter International, based at King Edward Bay in Onchan, gifted 118 presents in total to carers aged between five to 17 years old.

The bags were filled with colouring books, paints and chocolate, carefully chosen so that they were age-appropriate, and were presented at festive events organised by charity Crossroads Care.

Communications and community investment manager at Quilter International, Wendy Ranft-Gerber, said: ’The year 2020 has been a difficult one for everyone, and for young carers it has added to the challenges they face every day. We already have an association with Crossroads due to a three-year project which began in 2019.

’In addition to raising funds to help the charity to extend the excellent services they provide, we’ve also learned about some truly inspiring personal stories of young carers who look after parents, grandparents or siblings. Young carers are real-life superheroes, so the Christmas gifts are our way of saying a little "thank you" for all of the great things they do.’

The operational officer at Crossroads, Hannah Murphy, said: ’We are extremely grateful to Quilter International for thinking of our young carers this Christmas. It has been an incredibly hard year for many of our young carers and the goodie bags are a lovely way to show them how appreciated they are. We would like to thank all the staff at Quilter International for their continued support for our Young Carers project and we are looking forward to continuing our partnership in 2021.’