TWO North-East men working for oil firm BP in Norway have raised £11,000 for a local children's hospital.

John Spence, from Darlington, and Mark Lawson, from Newcastle, were working at the Nyo shipyard, in Grimstad, when they began a combined raffle and fundraising in aid of a local children's hospital.

"We started collecting coins among the workers, and it soon evolved. Football cards were sold, we had a raffle and local firms gave equipment or money to the raffle," said Mr Lawson.

Ellen Kopstad, head of the children's ward, said: "This is big, very big for us. It is not often the children's ward at the hospital receives such a large amount of money."