Times Christmas Appeal attracts record donations

Readers gave more than £750,000 to The Times Christmas Appeal to help people suffering in Yemen’s civil war, support homeless people in Britain and tackle marine pollution from plastic.

When the appeal closed last night readers had given £655,166, the most in direct donations in the appeal’s history, and pledged another £110,890 in Gift Aid. The TripAdvisor Charitable Foundation gave £100,000 in matched funding to Mercy Corps Yemen, taking the total raised to more than £860,000.