THE Storehouse Foodbank in Trowbridge is now £750 better off thanks to the fundraising efforts of a group of teenagers.

Over the past month, St Augustine's pupil Josh Burton, 16, and a dozen other youngsters have been busy taking part in the South West National Citizens Service and for two of those four weeks, they raised funds for the foodbank.

After putting on a raffle and quiz night and then sleeping rough under the stars, they managed to raise £600 and Josh managed to secure a £150 donation from Chippenham IT business Scisys.

He then gleefully handed over the cheque to Pam Telford at the foodbank on Thursday to cap off a memorable few weeks.

"It has been brilliant, every minute of it. I have had so much fun, I have learnt a lot and together we raised a good sum for a great cause," said Josh, who lives in Melksham.

"We worked hard to achieve this and it has paid off. I would recommend the NCS to anyone. We had a week of recreational activities, a week of leadership exercises and preparing us for work and then two weeks of fundraising and it was great.

"There are so many worthwhile causes but we chose this one as it helps a lot of people. I want to thank Scisys for their generosity too. It was great giving to the foodbank in person, they were very grateful."

NCS is a UK government voluntary personal and social development programme for 15-17-year-olds that includes outdoor activities, charity work and project planning.