Kids In Mind was our chosen charity partner for Christmas 2025 and the support from our Carlton Bingo community was more than we had hoped for. The appeal was a secret Santa toy appeal that all our clubs took part in, and we were staggered with the results.

Kids In Mind offers a place of hope and healing for disadvantaged children and young people who have escaped domestic violence.

With the huge generosity from customers and hard work from our staff, we were able to help Kids In Mind create 3298 bespoke gift bags, that contained a mixture of toys, games, toiletries, confectionary, books and other items that the families, carers and teachers of the young people had requested. In addition, there was enough donations to create a further 3873 non-bespoke gifts bag for those children with no specific wishes and just needed a secret Santa surprise.

Mairiona McInelly-Kier, Scottish Ambassador and Trustee for the charity, very kindly provided us with figures for donations from each of our clubs. The donations were either individual items or bespoke gift bags that children had asked for in their letters to Santa.

Carlton Buckie & Elgin donated 700 individual items between them.

Carlton Dalkeith donated 126 gift bags.

Carlton Dunfermline donated 370 gift bags.

Carlton East Kilbride donated 454 individual items.

Carlton Fraserburgh donated 260 bespoke gift bags.

Carlton Inverness donated 289 bespoke gift bags.

Carlton Livingstone donated 856 individual items.

Carlton Partick donated 639 individual items.

Carlton Stirling donated 599 individual items.

This amounted to a staggering 4735 individual items.

Mairiona said:

“All of us at Kids In Mind are deeply grateful for the marvelous support you, your many colleagues and the kind-hearted Carlton Bingo Club communities throughout Scotland have given us over the last few months. The response to the Secret Santa toy appeal was beyond magnificent.”

She also added:

“Thanks in a large part to the kindness of staff and patrons of Carlton Bingo Clubs, we also have sufficient stock left on our shelves so that we will be able to provide toys to top up the Fairy Boxes at the oncology department of Glasgow Children’s Hospital over the coming year and replenish the toys used by families who find themselves having to use the respite and emergency accommodation run by Calum’s Cabins (for families having to travel considerable distances to be with a child undergoing cancer treatment).” 

Craig Oliver, Head of Operations for Carlton Bingo said:

“I’m absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity from our customers and staff. Thank you so much for the donations and the hard work of the teams involved across all our clubs. The support for this worthwhile cause will be felt for a very long time and we’re thrilled to be able to help.”

JOIN CARLTON TODAY