Staff and customers in Liskeard joined in a nationwide community drive by the Co-op recently and raised hundreds of pounds for children’s charity Barnardo’s — with one of the store team receiving a ‘sliming’ in the process.

The day, organised in the Liskeard store by Co-op colleagues Sandra Mitchell and John Dunne, was part of the Co-op’s ‘Go Big for Barnardo’s’ 2023 fundraising drive.

The event included a tombola, a teddy bear lucky dip, a raffle and a cake sale, which together raised a total of £215.87.

Sandra said: “Staff did a brilliant job of baking and supplying cakes. Teddies for the lucky dip were supplied by local residents. Contents of the raffle were supplied by Liskeard Co-op and tombola items were supplied by Little Daisy’s Parents and Toddlers Group. A bottle of wine came from Morrisons.”

The total was topped up with a rather novel event where people paid to nominate Co-op colleagues, including manager Barry Hill, to be covered in green slime, and “winner” Kieron Hunt raised a total of £107.81.

Sandra up-ended a bucket-full of slimy green gunge on Kieron who, with his fellow contestants, added enough money to take the total from the fun day to £443.85.

Barry said: “Thank you to everyone who came up to support and help with the various events. A fantastic amount of money was raised, and a big thanks to John and Sandra for organising and running the day.”

Nationwide, the Co-op aims to raise £5-million over the next two-and-a-half years to support 750,000 young people to access basic needs like food, manage their mental well-being and opportunities for their future.