COOKS hope to serve up a tasty treat to help young victims of the tsunami.

Durham County Council's catering workers will take part in Unicef's Unichef day next Monday, along with restaurants up and down the country.

As well as feeding staff at County Hall in Durham, the authority's headquarters, the caterers also have the contract to serve police stations throughout the county.

On the day, they will be cooking special meals and donating a quarter of the price to Unicef, the international aid organisation.

About 80 staff at 15 sites will take part, each cooking something different.

They hope to raise between £2,000 and £3,000 for the young survivors of the disaster.

Catering operations manager Mike Elsom said: "We originally started off with just a curry lunch for staff at County Hall on February 7 but all our units, involving around 80 staff, wanted to join in. They will be serving a range of food from curry to cookies, all-day breakfasts to Chinese meals, for county council and Durham Constabulary staff to enjoy while at the same time contributing to the tsunami appeal."

Unicef estimates that more than 50,000 children died in the Boxing Day disaster and about five million more have been affected by losing their food, water and homes.

Organisers hope to raise between £2,000 and £3,000.