PICTURED: HEAVY metal... Saints' Samoan star Apollo Perelini wheels the cash into Barclays Bank watched by Gordon Crosby.

WHEN big-hearted businessman Gordon Crosby launched an appeal in the St Helens Star to raise vital cash for an African orphanage, he never thought he would be calling up heavyweight help from a Saints powerhouse to manhandle his charity haul into the bank.

For Gordon, proprietor of Grosvenor House Menswear in Duke Street, had hoped to raise about £1,000 to cover the cost of building a chicken shed for the Mija-wa-Salami orphanage in Kenya so that the children could have fresh eggs to eat.

But just 10 weeks after his 'Pennies from Heaven' appeal was featured in the Star, Gordon was able to announce that a staggering £3,000 had been raised.

And he had to call on Saints' man mountain Apollo Perelini to help him get his wheelbarrow-full of cash to the bank!

A delighted Gordon told the Star: "It is a testament to the generosity of the people of this town whose efforts have helped us to raise so much. Both young and old alike have been collecting their pennies and we are delighted with the result.

"My wife, Connie and I now plan to fly to Kenya in March to find out what else the orphanage can acquire with the extra money."

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