SALES of The Herald's charity calendar, showcasing the best of readers' photographs, have raised nearly £3300 for a mental health charity.

The Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), provides community based support services for people suffering from mental ill health. It also works to raise awareness of the reality of mental illness and erode the stigma which can surround it.

For the past four years a selection of images from The Herald's Picture of the Day slot has featured in the calendar. Sales of the 2014 edition raised £3274.

The charity was presented with the donation by Tim Blott, regional managing director, Newsquest (Herald & Times), who said: "We are delighted to help such a worthy cause."

Jo Anderson, director of external affairs at SAMH, expressed thanks to the readers: "Every year one in four of us will experience a mental illness, and if you don't yourself, chances are you know someone who does.

"Every calendar sold has been helping SAMH to continue to support people in Scotland who are affected by mental health problems. Thank you to everyone who bought one."

The calendar features the best readers' photographs submitted over the previous 12 months.

Barclay McBain, deputy editor of The Herald, thanked those readers who allowed their pictures to be published, as well as readers in general for their generosity in helping to raise a significant amount of money for the charity.

Brodie Duncan, Herald and Times group senior multimedia editor, helped select the images.

He said: "For me, it is one of the most satisfying tasks of the year. We have had an impressively healthy response from readers to the Picture of the Day slot and selecting this year's calendar images was once again an absolute joy."