Staff at a Dartford hospital have thanked members of the community after they helped replace a DVD player that went missing from the children’s ward.

Darent Valley Hospital launched an appeal on Tuesday, March 13, to replace the equipment after it disappeared on March 9, the day it was first used.

Within two hours a member of the public had donated a new DVD player to Willow Ward, and 19 more soon followed.

In a Facebook post, the hospital said the donations were “extremely humbling.”

It added: “Now more children than ever will be enjoying their favourite DVDs at the bedside.”

The donations have been made from people across the community, from whip-rounds among pubgoers to grandparents of past patients.

Donna Day, play team specialist on the ward, said: “We use the DVD players not only for the children but for distraction when they are having invasive procedures.

“The donations have just been overwhelming. We have also put up an Amazon wish list and people have already started buying gifts.

“The support this ward gets from the general public is amazing. I can’t believe the generosity of people.”

The portable DVD players were originally donated to the ward after two mothers spent months fundraising for the Willow Ward, which looked after their son when he had open heart surgery at one month old.

Grayson Burdett was born with two holes in his heart. While he recovered from surgery, his mothers praised staff at the Willow Ward for their hard work and support.

In early March, the News Shopper reported that Grayson’s mothers had raised more than £1,000 for staff on the ward, which helped to fund the new DVD players.

Grayson’s mother, Sarah Burdett, said the family was “sad to hear that one of the DVD players had gone so soon.”

However, she added: “The fact that people came together and provided 20 new ones doesn’t surprise me at all. For every person that is prepared to take there are always more people prepared to give.

“I know the play team will be over joyed and the patients will get a real benefit from it. We provided a lot of DVDs when we did the Grayson project so hopefully this makes the play team’s job that little bit easier.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the work they do.”

Anyone who would like to donate to the ward can visit the wish list on the Amazon website.