AN after-school club set up to help worthwhile causes could result in another national award for a Rossendale school.

Champion fundraisers from Help Haslingden Support Charities (HHSC), based at the high school in Broadway, have a date in the capital as part of the Giving Nation Social Action awards.

The school collected the same award from pop stars Liberty X in 2004 and were also finalists the following year.

Under the HHSC banner, first and second year seniors at Haslingden High have collected thousands of pounds for a variety of charitable aims, over the past two years.

For 2010, the school will be competing against seven other educational establishments for a trip to Gambia to undertake yet more charity work.

Elaine Edyvean, an assistant headteacher, said: “The students have worked fantastically hard his year not only raising money, but more importantly in raising awareness across the school about all the different organisations that need help. We are all very proud of their achievements.”

Several students have been selected for the awards night in London, including 13-year-olds Jade Street, Jake Hobson, Megan Ashwell and Sara Nagy, plus Alice Tiler and Izzy Eason, aged 12.

Jade said: “We have been helping numerous charities. When we collected donations for the RSPCA, we went along to the shelter in Oldham and got to look around. They were really happy that we had done something for them.”

The other causes to benefit include a local women’s refuge, the BBC’s Children In Need appeal, the Salvation Army and an orphanage in Africa.

Volunteers also scooped the top prize for schools in Rossendale Hospice’s penny-pinching appeal, collecting £625.