North-East youngsters will live healthier lives thanks to the efforts of shop staff.

Co-op staff from the North-East and Cumbria raised a total of £14,000 for the Newcastle-based Children's Foundation at two charity nights at the Federation Brewery, in Gateshead, and The Moota, in Cockermouth.

More than 800 people attended the disco and karaoke evenings and three more fund raising events in aid of another worthy cause are planned for later in the year.

The Children's Foundation is dedicated to improving the health of children across the north by raising funds to support medical and lifestyle research and community projects.

The latest donation will be used for research into children's diseases and to part fund the Golden Freeway project, enabling families with youngsters who have cerebral palsy and kidney problems to communicate with each other and hospitals using home computers.

Operations manager Keith Green and area manager John Thompson, who are both based at the Co-op's Gateshead headquarters, were the evenings' main organizers.