TAKEAWAY staff have swapped fast food for fundraising as they organised a host of events to collect more than £5,000 for good causes.

Franchisee Dave Shaw and staff from his four McDonald’s restaurants in Bolton teamed up to raise the money for Bolton Hospice, which provides free, expert palliative care for adults facing life-limiting illnesses.

Mr Shaw presented Kathryn Willett from Bolton Hospice with a cheque for £5,225 — the result of a series of fundraising events and challenges organised by staff from his Knowsley Street, Waters Meeting Road, Middlebrook Retail Park and Delph Hill restaurants over the last 12 months.

Fundraising activities include local staff successfully climbing Snowdonia in just seven hours, holding a number of raffles, charity football games, quiz nights, face painting and tombolas.

The restaurants also donated bottles of water to the hospice's Midnight Memories Walk where close to 2,000 residents from across Bolton completed an eight-mile walk around the town to raise funds.

Mr Shaw said: "The generosity and enthusiasm towards raising money for Bolton Hospice form my staff and customers makes me extremely proud.

"The team have excelled themselves in their fundraising efforts over the past 12 months, pushing themselves to raise as much as possible.

"It’s been a challenge that everyone has enjoyed being a part of and I’m delighted to be able to present over £5,000 to such a wonderful cause."

Kathryn Willett from Bolton Hospice said: “We’d like to thank Dave, his staff and all of his Bolton customers for getting behind their fundraising efforts, we truly appreciate it. As a charity, we have to raise over £2.8 million per year and really do rely on the support of local businesses and people to keep our vital services running."