ACTRESS Jenny Agutter is supporting an appeal by a South Hams-based national children’s charity to help children affected by the cost of living crisis this winter.

The star of TV’s Call The Midwife and the 1957 classic film The Railway Children, Jenny is a long-standing patron of the Buckfastleigh-based Go Beyond charity which provides children who face serious challenges in their home lives, including poverty, free holidays.

Jenny is joining the charity’s latest appeal to give children whose families will be critically affected by this winter’s cost of living crisis the chance to feel warm and cosy on a week-long, residential break.

“I am keen to support Go Beyond because they give those children who don’t have the opportunity, whose childhoods have been filled with cares and concerns not games and play, the chance to make their own wonderful memories,” said Jenny. “They meet other children and play games; they are cared for by a team of people who put their needs first, always.”

By donating to the charity’s appeal, supporters will be helping to give children facing their toughest winter yet the chance to have a week of warm, home cooked meals, hot showers and evenings playing games in the charity’s cosy farmhouses in Tywardreath, Cornwall and Fenny Bentley, Derbyshire.

Sara Shearman of Go Beyond explained: “As a charity we are deeply concerned for the welfare of millions of children, many of whom are at risk of deterioration in their mental health, malnourishment and alienation from their peers at school as a result of the increased financial pressures on their families.

“As part of our efforts to support these children, we are asking you to please consider making a donation that will enable us to provide them with a break from the worries and pressures they face at home this winter.

“A donation of £10, £20 or £50 per month could help pay for hot chocolates to enjoy around our fire pit, waterproofs and wellies to spend time outdoors, blankets to snuggle up in front of our wood burning stove, oil to heat our rustic old farmhouses and thick duvets for long nights of sleep.”

To donate visit www.gobeyond.org.uk/winterwarmer.