WORKERS have been praised for backing a Christmas charity campaign -- despite facing redundancy.

Staff at Crown Wallcoverings in Darwen have pledged their support to the Blackburn Partnership's Christmas Challenge even though they are about to lose their jobs.

Businesses and organisations across Lancashire gathered at Ewood Park in Blackburn to pledge their support to the 2003 campaign.

Crown and others are due to raise money which will then be handed out to community, charity and voluntary groups in Blackburn and Darwen.

Joe Wright, a safety officer at the Crown Wallcoverings factory in Belgrave Road, said: "We have helped in the past and as long as we are in business we still have an opportunity to commit to it.

"We thought it was important to carry on and it shouldn't be difficult to do so as long as we have the resources."

Around 100 production and administration staff were put on 90 days' notice when the decision to close the plant was made in September.

The news came three months after receivers made 177 workers redundant at the mill, where the first machine-printed wallpaper in the world came off the presses in the 1800s.

According to Blackburn Partnership, staff at Belgrave Mill have raised over £250,000 in past years and will be sorely missed.

The partnership brings together the public, private and voluntary sectors together to work for the benefit of the local community.

Christmas Challenge organiser Wendy Hobson said: "Crown has been one of our best fund-raisers and Joe in particular has been magnificent.

"We are bound to miss him and his team because nothing was ever too much trouble for them. It's a shame they are about to lose their jobs and I would recommend him to any company."

At the campaign launch, Blackburn Partnership chief executive Peter Robinson said groups were in for a bumper year with £350,000 expected to be raised.