Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association spread cheer to the young and elderly over the festive period.

Youngsters from the Keigh-ley branch of the organisation - known as Khuddam-ul-Ahmad-iyya - with colleagues from Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds visited nursing homes and hospitals.

On Christmas Day the Keighley contingent distributed gifts and cards at Airedale Hospital children's ward, and there was an appearance by Sylvester the cat and a Teletubby.

Three nursing homes were visited - in Bradford, Ilkley and Huddersfield.

A spokesman for the association says: "Throughout the day the teams aimed to give comfort and put a smile on people's faces.

"The event proved extremely successful from the perspective of cheering up many of the senior citizens as well as providing entertainment for the young children in hospital."

The organisation has an on-going charity fundraising programme, with Save the Children and London's Great Ormond Street Hospital among past beneficiaries.

Marathon walks have been staged annually for the past 12 years to boost the fundraising effort.

During the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, members collected and personally delivered over 250 tonnes of humanitarian aid. Convoys went into the war zones delivering goods such as medicines, baby food and clothing to those who had suffered in the fighting.

And recently a 20-tonne consignment was sent from this region to war-torn Sierra Leone in Africa.

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