CARING soles - that's staff at the Bury branch of shoe repair and key engraving chain Timpson.

For the employees, based at The Mall, Bury, have put their customer service skills to work in aid of the NSPCC's Full Stop campaign which aims to eradicate child abuse.

The Timpson team, led by branch manager Peter Shawcross, has been offering free shoe shines to customers and undertaking small repair jobs, such as stitching, gluing and belt hole punching, for no charge.

And the cheery cobblers are passing on any tips from grateful customers into the NSPCC collecting tin.

Now, the kind-hearted staff have earned themselves high praise from company chairman and chief executive, John Timpson.

"The Bury team have shown that customers really do appreciate good quality customer service, something clearly reflected in the amount of money donated to the NSPCC through the branch," he said.

"They are doing a great job and I'm delighted by their fund raising efforts," he added.

The Bury branch are pressing for first place, behind the company's Kendal branch, in their area's fund raising league for the charity.

Bury manager Mr Shawcross commented: "We'll happily accept literally any job that takes only three or four minutes to fix, from stitching an umbrella strap to gluing a loose trainer sole.

"It's all part of our service and, thanks to the generosity of our customeers, the NSPCC is benefiting."

Throughout the UK, the company has already raised £75,000 for the charity after initially pledging £25,000.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.