TWO evenings of food and entertainment, held by Darlington Rotary Club, raised more than £4,000 for good causes.

The two main beneficiaries will be St Teresa's Hospice and Butterwick Hospice, with a small amount going to other charities supported by the club.

In the first fundraiser, at Headlam Hall Hotel, comedians Lydia Slack and Sheila Dibnah provided the entertainment for 140 Rotarians and their guests.

This was followed by an evening at Blackwell Grange, where auctioneer David Harper kept the audience on their toes as he moved among them, valuing their antiques.

Tony Brockley, chief executive of Darlington Credit Union, was guest speaker at the club's most recent meeting.

The credit union was formed in 2009 by merging four smaller groups and now has more than 5,000 members and savings of £1.3m, with loans of about £900,000.

A Darlington Rotary Club spokesman said: "The credit union makes a huge difference to people needing finance for many different reasons and can eliminate the need for them going to door step or pay day loan dealers who charge huge rates of interest.

"They want to be seen as the leader in facilitating and improving the financial well being of the community and as part of this commitment are working in schools to provide a saving and withdrawal facility to teach young people financial well-being."