A MUSICAL community group are ringing in their success after donating a cheque to volunteers.

The All Saints’ and Salutation Church hand-bell ringers completed a fundraising campaign at Christmas by performing in Darlington shops.

Shoppers donated £1,620 to the cause which has been given to the Darlington and District Talking Newspaper (DDTN) team.

DDTN chairman, David Smith, said: “The DDTN produces a weekly CD for visually impaired people of the town, which includes items of local news and other useful information and topics that will be of interest to the listeners.

“Based on the ground floor of The Northern Echo building, a team of about 50 volunteers – newsreaders, editors, recording engineers and office staff – ensure that the recording goes out 50 weeks of the year.

“As a registered charity, we rely entirely on charitable donations and fundraising to ensure that we can continue with our work.

“The generous donation from the All Saints’ and Salutation Church hand-bell ringers will go a long way to helping us achieve this.”