IF YOU ever bump into Ann Allison, the chances are she'll be rattling a bucket at you, wanting your money. Raffles, tombolas, cake bakes, fancy dress - she's very good at persuading people to part with their cash.

What's more she's just as good at handing it over to good causes. So good, that earlier this month the charity Breast Cancer Care presented her with an Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition of the £4,000 she helped raise for them last year. A reward that came as a complete shock. "If I'd known I'd have had to go up on stage, I wouldn't have worn such high heels," she says.

And that's only a fraction of it.

Ann is Events Co-ordinator at Asda in Spennymoor. Every Asda store has one, helping local people raise money for charities, national and local, as well as going out and about into the community.

Though Spennymoor is quite a small store, it's also one of the most successful at fund-raising, which most people put down to Ann and her assistant Jane Warren, but which Ann says is entirely due to the "amazing generosity" of the store's customers.

As well as Breast Cancer Care, there was a huge amount of money for Children in Need, as well as lots of smaller local causes such as Wear Valley Women's Refuge, the RVI Newcastle, Ramshaw Rescue, Aycliffe Animal Sanctuary, Salvation Army, the Rainbow Trust, as well as local schools, nurseries and hospices.

There is also practical work, like the time Asda staff redecorated the loos and hall for St Paul's Church on Spennymoor. "It's the only time in my life I've been upside down with my head beneath an urinal," says Ann. "But it looked good when we'd finished."

ASDA pays for her time - and all those other co-ordinators in other stores - and gives other help and support,

"But there's no magic pot of money," says Ann, "and that's the difficult bit to get people to understand. We get maybe 40 letters a week asking for help and it's terrible trying to choose. Every penny we give to charity, has to be raised."

Which is why Ann drove her partner mad last Saturday - they spent virtually the entire day in the Metro Centre looking for 1950s-style full petticoats.

"On Saturday we're having a 50s day - singer, karaoke, and lots of us dressed 50s-style, partly to launch our summer living range and also to get our Tickled Pink campaign for breast cancer going."

But charity isn't always a case of giving money. Ann has got particularly close to the Readshaw family of Ferryhill who lost two children in separate drowning accidents. Another daughter Catherine, 11, is being treated for leukaemia in Newcastle.

"We collected money to help the family travel to and from the hospital - the costs of that really mount up - and we gave Catherine a television to cheer her up after the second bout of chemotherapy. When the news got out that Daniel had drowned, we just couldn't believe it. Customers were all so upset, coming in shell-shocked, and wanted to give money to help the family cope. In just seven hours, they'd given us more than £1,000"

And when the family wanted a pipe band to play at Daniel's funeral last Christmas, it was Ann who sorted it. "Newton Aycliffe Pipe Band were great," she says.

Ann herself has had far more than her share of tragedy in her own life which perhaps gives her a greater understanding of what people are going through, but she is amazingly cheerful and delights in her work.

"There are no qualifications or training for it, though maybe you have to be a bit doolally. I know I am. I've always worked in sales, had a market stall for a long time, worked here for ten years and have been doing this job for the last three. There are no rules, really. But it's not a job you can just leave at work. My brain buzzes with it all the time as I keep trying to think up new ideas. I'll be on a night out and I'll suddenly think of something and have to write it on the back of my hand before I forget. But the company just lets us get on with it whichever way we like."

So there's that 50s event, Beat the Goalie on Cup Final day and a Weakest Link night with Ann as Anne Robinson, a wonderful chance to be nasty.

And it all means sorting out the practicalities as well, which is why Ann is very good on sound systems and balloon blowing up and never seems to go anywhere without a bag full of duct tape, glitter spray, a staple gun and various other weird and wonderful odds and ends which might just come in useful.

She also has - supremely - the gift of wheedling freebies out of firms.

"I will admit I'm brilliant at blagging," she says. So when they need hampers or prizes, she's on the phone to Asda's suppliers, giving them the opportunity to contribute generously. "I probably talk them to death, but it works and that's all that matters."

Colleagues at the store are hugely supportive, most of them prepared to wield a paint brush, take disabled adults on shopping trips to the Metro Centre, dress up, or simply buy raffle tickets to help out. "And the girls in the canteen are brilliant at making cakes for us." Even the store manager has been known to parade the aisles in a pink tutu. But that's another story...

When she's not chasing money, Ann spends a lot of time in local schools, from nurseries to secondary. Asda contributes to breakfast clubs, making sure children get a decent start to the day. Ann is a mentor to 15-year-old girls, helping, advising and encouraging them to make the most of their chances. She goes into primary schools and talks about nutrition, about the importance of five pieces of fruit and veg a day. "Sometimes you even have to tell them what fruit is. An amazing number of children can't recognise a plum," she says.

Ann also talks to them about shoplifting - a serious and growing problem among children. "It starts with a pack of Polos and by the time they're in their teens, they can be taking hundreds of pounds' worth of stuff. So the trick is to stop them taking that first pack of Polos."

Children are regular visitors to the store, finding out how it works, carol singing at Christmas, having picnics in the summer. "It's all about being part of the community. Yes, I think up all the ways we raise money but at the end of the day, it's the generosity of our customers that keeps the money coming in."

And off she goes, to organise the raffle of a giant Andrex puppy...