Volunteers hailed for £1m fundraising success

A group of charity volunteers said they were "absolutely gobsmacked" to find out they have passed a £1m fundraising target.

The money has been raised over the past 18 years by the NSPCC’s north Staffordshire branch to help children in the West Midlands and across the UK.

Sue Wardle, chair of the branch, said they were pretty unaware the target was in sight until their branch treasurer checked their records dating back to 2006.

“He said ‘did you realise that we are coming up for almost a million pounds raised in the north Staffs area?’ And we were absolutely gobsmacked," she said.

“We had a good lot of fundraising over the Christmas period and just after Christmas, we reached the million pounds”.

John Howard, the man who discovered the landmark, said it showed the efforts to help children in the area.

"It's a massive contribution to the funds of the NSPCC and they cannot get enough money to do the very fantastic work that they do with their young children's and families," he added.

A celebration event was held by the charity to thank the group of volunteers and Caroline Morgan, from the charity, said their efforts were "incredible".

“The charity is nearly 90% funded by voluntary donations so we wouldn't exist If people like north Staffs group didn't fundraise for us," she said.