Broadcaster Piers Morgan has donated £15,000 of his own money to a West Norfolk charity supporting bereaved children of military personnel after appearing on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The ITV presenter and journalist appeared on the show on Saturday night hoping to win the top prize for Scotty's Little Soldiers, which is based in King's Lynn.

The Good Morning Britain presenter ended up walking away with £1,000 after taking a gamble trying to win £32,000, but pledged to donate £15,000 of his own money to make the total up to £16,000.

The £16,000 total will help provide a year's worth of support to 13 bereaved young people.

Scotty’s Little Soldiers was founded in 2010 by war widow Nikki Scott, a year after her husband, Corporal Lee Scott, was killed in action in Afghanistan. The charity offers a range of services to support bereaved children including four family programmes, wellbeing care and educational support, grants and respite breaks.

She said: "I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole show. We are so honoured that Piers chose to support Scotty’s and it’s incredible that he has said he will donate £15,000 of his own money to the charity, on top of the £1,000 that he has won.

"£16,000 will make a huge difference to us as a charity and to the children we support. We can’t thank him enough.”

“Piers has helped us in so many ways. It’s not just about the money, one of the most important things for a charity is to raise awareness, so Piers’ support has really helped us to spread the word of the work we do.

"Sadly, there’s still lots of children out there who have lost a parent who served, and we want to be there for them. We really urge bereaved Forces families to contact us. We also hope others will be inspired to support Scotty’s, so we can continue to offer the best level of care to the children of our fallen heroes.”

The broadcaster chose the charity as his brother, Jeremy, is a serving Army Colonel with four children.

The charity is trying to raise £50,000 to provide a year's worth of support for 41 bereaved children. To donate visit www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/millionaire