WHEN life gets in a muddle and is scary, there is nothing like a cuddle to help make things feel better.

And now, thanks to a Helensburgh business, some very scared young people will have cuddles galore courtesy of one of Britain's best loved toy companies.

Burgh toy shop Grasshopper Toys was asked by the kind people at Best Years Toys to nominate a charity to be entered into a prize draw with the chance of winning a host of delightful cuddly pals from Best Year's range of knitted and crocheted toys as well as a grant of £300.

And Grasshopper's owner Wendy Hamilton was absolutely delighted when her charity of choice, Argyll and Bute Women's Aid in Helensburgh were selected as the winners.

She said: “We work with the Helensburgh arm of Argyll and Bute Women’s Aid. They are always looking for comfort toys for children affected by domestic violence and I am so pleased to have an opportunity to provide cuddle comfort toys for these children.

“Each Christmas we organise a toy collection of nearly new or new toys in conjunction with the Helensburgh Advertiser, and Helensburgh residents drop in toys to our shop.

“We then take them up to Argyll Women's Aid and they are given to the mums to wrap for their children for Christmas day.

“It turns a potentially bleak morning into a warm event for these traumatised families.”

She added: “But outside of Christmas Women's Aid still need toys: when a family is moved into protection, it often happens at super high speed and the children are not able to pack any belongings, they literally have to leave on the spot with their mum so I am so pleased that we have been able to help through Best Years.”

The toys from Best Toys will be used by specialist, social workers and counsellors making first contact with children who have been wrenched from their homes frightened and worried about the future.

Each child will be given a toy by one of these counsellors to help break the ice and provide a cuddle friend while everything is being done to mend their world - a cuddle friend who will become something that is just theirs when everything else has been taken away.

A spokesman for Argyll Women's Aid office in Helensburgh said: “This is a wonderful surprise and we are so very grateful not just for the toys but for the financial boost for our work too. These toys will be used to help give comfort and build trust with traumatised young children in the wake of a family break-up.

“We can't thank Grasshopper Toys and Best Years enough for their kindness.”

A spokesman for Best Years said: “We are so pleased to have been able to do this. This is such a great cause and we will be helping not just the children but their mums too with makes us doubly happy.”