A CHILDREN'S club is to receive a £10,000 boost to enable it to accommodate more youngsters.

The Beehive Out of School Club, based at Hurworth House School, Hurworth, near Darlington, will receive the money over the next three years.

The cash will pay for an extra play worker.

Pearl, the life and pensions arm of Australian financial services company AMP, is supporting the club as part of its £2m investment in a national initiative to provide more than 7,000 childrena safe place to go out of school hours a week .

Club manager Philomena Butler said: "Pearl's support will make a real difference to us. The club is a vital part of the community, and this additional funding means that we can offer more support to families in the area."

Ian Goodrick, branch manager for Pearl in the Teesside area, said: "Our home service approach gives us a very good insight into issues that are important to people in Darlington.

"I know, from my own home visits in the area, that balancing work and child care is a big challenge here, and this is why we have decided to support the Beehive Out of School Club.

"We see this as a way of putting something back into the local community."

Research from Pearl revealed that parents in the North-East are eager for more of this typeof child care.

A total of 41 per cent of parents surveyed worried about their children being attacked or abducted, and 24 were concerned about bullying of children when they were out of the school environment