RADCLIFFE Rotary Club's annual Christmas charity collection has broken all previous records.

More than £7,000 was collected by the door-to-door Santa sleigh tour and collections at Radcliffe Asda.

President Mr David Beesley said: "Our objective this year was to knock on every door and we had to engage Santa for an extra night to cope with the growth in the town!"

He added: "We were also joined by Bob the Builder and after 15 nights out with our buckets we were a little weary but very pleased with the end result. The smiles on the faces of Radcliffe's tots makes it all worthwhile, together with the waves and goodwill shared with parents, grandparents, motorists and even teenagers for whom this sort of thing may not be considered 'cool'."

Every penny collected will be given to charities with most of it going straight back to the town of Radcliffe. A total of 250 senior citizens have already been invited to a Christmas party at the Civic Suite, and several other local deserving causes have been earmarked.

Mr Beesley said: "Thanks to all the volunteers, the management of Asda and especially the people of Radcliffe for their generosity."

Anyone interested in joining Rotary should contact secretary Tony Leach on 723 0948.