A FESTIVE fundraiser has raised over £200 despite a string of thefts from his charity collection box.

Sanxi-Guy Cole of Clee View in Droitwich, left his charity box outside his home which was taken twice and money taken from it on a third occasion.

Despite this, he raised £205 for Barnardo's through his Christmas lights display, a big increase on the £37 he raised for the charity last year.

Mr Cole, a lollipop man, said: "I was absolutely delighted with how much I managed to raise, Barnardo's will certainly be able to put that to good use.

"I would like to say thank you to everyone who left a donation in the box and those who posted money through my letter box, I really appreciate it.

"I am not sure what made this year's collection so successful, perhaps being in the paper before helped.

"The only blemish was the box being stolen twice more (three times in total) last Tuesday (December 27) and Thursday (December 29) after which I decided to bring the decorations in for this year.

"I don't know how much has been taken each time, it's impossible to know as every time I check how much is in there I bring the money in."

Talking about why he chose Barnardo’s as his charity, he said: “I have always had Barnardo’s as my charity.

“Although I don’t have kids of my own I love working with kids.

“I put up lights for Christmas every year and people walk and drive past, they often come closer to have a look.

"I thought last year I might as well do something for charity at the same time as having the lights up.”