BIG-HEARTED workers at an Iceland frozen food store in Darlington have broken through the £10,000 barrier in their quest to raise money for the Cancer Research Fund.

The Yarm Road branch of the store chain is supporting a family fun day in aid of the charity next weekend.

Staff from around the region have already been busy making pledges and taking donations towards the cause.

The fundraising event was prompted by Kath Smith, who works in the Yarm Road store.

She saw the effects of cancer on two fellow members of staff and persuaded management that they needed to do something to help.

Stewart Curtis, manager of the Yarm Road store, said: "Even before the family fun day we have got to our original target of £10,000 which has now been revised to £20,000.

"We felt we had to do something because cancer affects all of us directly or indirectly in some way."

The family fun day starts at noon on Sunday, at the Hurworth Community Centre, near Darlington.

A free hourly bus service will take people from Iceland in Yarm Road to the event, which is being opened by the editor of The Northern Echo, Peter Barron.

Attractions include jazz music, karate demonstrations, charity football matches, Territorial Army displays and craft stalls.

Also on offer are Punch and Judy, a minature railway, and an appearance by Darlington firefighters who are bringing a fire engine along.

There will be a bar, barbecue, a roadshow by radio station TFM, and a prize draw with the chance to win a £1,000 holiday.

Admission is free.