NO indignity is too much for Redcar's own 'Mr Endurance' when it comes to raising money for a good cause.

Ron Gordon has swallowed 400 maggots, topped off with rag and lug worms, to raise £800 for charity; been covered from head to toe - save his knee joints - in plaster of Paris for a week, and had his beard plucked out by tweezers over five hours.

He has even allowed himself to be tied to a tree and then pulled by a fire engine and buried up to his neck in sand one chilly November.

"You have always to think of something different: I have done some crazy things to get money," admitted Mr Gordon, who, when he did have a beard once had half of it shaved off and the other dyed pink.

Mick Irving and Dave Evans, partners in a local garden decking firm, took it in turns, today, to drag Mr Gordon half a mile along the beach at Redcar by his feet - and then back again.

For this latest stunt, the residential social worker wore a superman costume hired from a fancy dress shop, wearing a hole in the seat of his tights as he was pulled along the sand on his back.

In return for pulling him along the beach, the businessmen donated money towards his goal of buying a mini bus for St Margaret's respite centre at Brotton.

He has taken part in and, at times, organised the Boxing Day Dip in the North Sea at Redcar for the past 25 years.

He was awarded an MBE by the Queen for services to charity and the community in 1999, and reckons he has raised about £300,000 for charity over the years.

"I do it to make a difference, because I believe if you can help someone in this world just a little bit, it goes a long way.

"I am not knocking anyone running two miles for charity or doing a parachute jump but I try for something a bit strange or peculiar to make people look and think, 'if he's got the bottle to do that it must be worth supporting'."