A DORCHESTER woman has donated £1000 worth of gifts to make sure patients staying at Dorset County Hospital will have a present to open this Christmas.

Emma Mumford, 21, who lives near Dorchester, has been stockpiling gifts throughout the year to donate to patients who will be staying in the hospital over the Christmas period.

Emma, also known as the ‘Coupon Queen’, saves thousands of pounds through extreme couponing, has a following of more than 80,000 people on her dedicated 'Extreme Couponing and Deals UK' Facebook page and has built an impressive stockpile of goods through her savvy saving.

However, she decided that she wanted to give something back this year and, with the help of donations from a number of businesses, has managed to give £1000 worth of products to the hospital.

She said: “I decided to do the donation because I know how horrible it can be to be in hospital at Christmas.

“Some of the people can get really down and might not have any family to visit them so I just thought it would be a really nice thing to do.

Through coupons, deals and her already huge stockpile, Emma was able to collect £700 worth of gifts to donate, and was given around £300 of donations from businesses who wanted to help.

The gifts ranged from advent calendars, toys and books for children on the Kingfisher Ward, to toiletries, cosmetics and gadgets for patients staying on the adult wards and, thanks to couponing, the whole thing only cost her £3.

Dorset Echo:

She said visiting the hospital to donate the gifts wasn’t how she expected.

“I was quite worried about the donation because a lot of people in my family have been affected by cancer and I thought I might get really emotional but it was actually really good fun.”

“All of the staff were really upbeat and friendly and the patients were so optimistic, we had a good laugh.

“It’s really nice to give something back and I think I would like to do it again.

“Everyone was so grateful and even donating some time is really worthwhile, especially for older people who may not have family and can get quite lonely.”

“I was quite stressed about the donation because I really wanted it to go right, now it is done I can relax and it will be really nice on Christmas Day to know all of those people will have gifts to open.”