A GREENMOUNT carpet company has made a pile for charity.

And former hostage and Church of England envoy Terry Waite, whose homelessness charity was one of those to benefit from the generosity of Cormar Carpets, attended Thursday's first-ever charity luncheon.

The event was staged at the firm's Brookhouse Mill headquarters and included representatives from other recipients.

Over the last year, the business has raised £18,700 for local charities by matching £1 for £1 donation made by its employees through the Give As You Earn (GAYE) scheme.

Cheques were presented to St Ann's Hospice in Worsley, Derian House Children's Hospice, North West Kidney Research, Leukaemia Research, the Mastectomy Support Group at Fairfield Hospital and Terry Waite's Emmaus charity.

Each year, the amount raised is allocated to various charities in the region by Cormar Carpets' charity committee, which was set up in 1977.

Robert Barker, chairman of the committee, said: "We are really pleased with the amount that has been raised for charity through the generous donation of our employees."

"It's fantastic to think that we, as a manufacturing company, can also pull together funds of a significant amount to plough back into local charities and the community." Cormar Carpets is one of the UK's most successful independent carpet producers and employs more than 220 people at its plants in Tottington and Ramsbottom as well as a 16-strong sales team covering the UK and Ireland.