TEN charities were given a belated New Year cash boost from the High Wycombe Lions after members raised £8,000 in just one month. The whopping total was one of the highest the club has achieved during its annual Christmas collection.

All 39 members got involved by holding collections at supermarkets Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons and by helping out when Father Christmas made a tour around the town on his float.

They were helped during the fundraising by eight of the charities they supported, and last week the groups were invited to a members meeting to be given their share of the £8,000.

High Wycombe Mayor Cllr Darren Hayday and the Mayoress Orsolya Hayday also went along to the hand-over evening at BroomWade Sports Club in Hughenden Park.

Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance, XP Support Group, Thomas Ball Children's Cancer Fund, Bucks Search and Rescue, Wycombe Hospital Stroke Support Group, Friends of Penn and Maplewood schools, Hillcrest Day Centre, Thames Valley PHAB and High Wycombe YMCA were all helped by the Lions.

Eileen Wheatley, Lions president, said: "It's a lot of hard work put in, by not just us and our members, but all the local community who stuck their money in our tins and turn up when we knock on their door.

"They know which day we're coming at Christ-mas and their chil-dren look forward to it. The really nice thing is when the children are carried out in their pyjamas to see Santa Claus."