Money raised from a toy sale means a 24-hour phone line providing support for grieving parents can survive the winter.

Mark Roberts, 63, and wife Sarah, 32, from Cutteslowe, in Oxford, run the Grieving Parents Support Group, which was given charitable status by the Charity Commission last year.

They set up the charity following the death of their 20-month-old son Matthew and opened a phone line to give support and advice to parents going through similar grieving and suffering.

A children's toy sale at Iffley Lock, in Oxford, at the weekend raised £198 and attracted dozens of passers-by, tourists and even joggers.

Mr Roberts, of Hawksmoor Road, said: "This money will help keep the phone lines going for at least another month.

"It might not sound a lot but we get people phoning from around the country and we pay the rest of the call so they only get charged at a local rate.

"We always need the money, especially going towards the winter months where there are fewer fetes and car boot sales for us to raise money. It can be very difficult over the next six months between now and March."

The couple's young son died after slipping in a bath while staying with relatives in Reading in 2002.

Their counselling service receives hundreds of calls every week and run three phone lines and run shifts to answer calls through the day and night.

Father-of-three Mr Roberts said: "We are getting between 200 and 300 calls a week now. It's mostly in the evenings and it's normally men who ring.

"It started off quite small, but since we were given charitable status it's really grown."

Mr Roberts thanked the companies which donated the items sold at two stalls on Saturday and Sunday.

The couple have also organised the Matthew Roberts Memorial Fund.

If you are a parent needing support, call the Grieving Parents Support Group on 08456 034309. To offer help or money to the charity, call 01865 556566.