DON'T put anything down in Anita Savory's house, joke her daughters, or she'll have a tombola ticket on it in seconds. As it is, when you walk into her house in Wolsingham, the first thing you see in the hall is a sack of teddy bears, tins of sweets, football souvenirs... all waiting to be raffled, tombolad or auctioned for a good cause.

Anita, 43, is a one-woman fundraiser. In the past year alone, she must have raised over £17,000 for good causes.

"But don't say it's just me!" she says, horrified. "It's the people of Weardale. They're absolutely brilliant and so willing to help. There's a lot of dedicated people in the dale."

And that doesn't just mean dipping into their pockets. They play in daft football matches, submit themselves to chest waxes (ouch), turn themselves into Elvis or Meatloaf for a Stars in Their Eyes type evening - and turn up to laugh and cheer in the audience. The local fire brigade found themselves enlisted as models for a fashion show.

"I just marched into practice night at Stanhope fire station and said I was looking for some brave men. They were great. We called it a Fashion Inferno and they did it the next year too and raised a lot of money for the Butterwick Hospice in Bishop Auckland."

Anita, a cook at a children's nursery, overflows with energy and enthusiasm. She first got involved with fundraising 15 years ago.

"I lost my dad to cancer and I started doing a bit behind the scenes. Then I just got more and more involved. Now I always like to have a project on the go. It keeps me busy. I just like to get off my backside and do something."

Although born in Mansfield, because her parents happened to be there at the time, she soon moved back to the dale and is Weardale through and through. She can't envisage living anywhere else.

She has the help and support of husband Reg and daughters, Sinead, 19 and 25-year-old Kelly Ann. "I'm a real family person. We're very close. And I was very much influenced by my grandmother."

She never misses a trick when it comes to fundraising.

"I was with my younger daughter in Argos in the MetroCentre when we saw the England football team. Straightaway, I bought a football and dashed after them to get them to sign it. Stephen Gerrard told me where they were going and said: 'You'll have to be quick!' And we were. That raised £160 so it was easy money for a bit of quick thinking."

All the money raised is for local charities - the Butterwick Hospice, Independence 4 Disability, which is a local charity started by Helen Blackburn and Alistair Howe; Weardale Community Hospital - "a brilliant place", Multiple Sclerosis - "There is a real pocket of MS in the dale, much higher incidence than elsewhere. The money goes to help with respite care, or often for practical items which can make a real difference to the quality of life for someone with MS - and their family."

There are some outstanding cases, such as the tsunami disaster, when the dale willingly reached out across the world to help. "That started with the school organising a disco and within days, there was over £3,000 raised," says Anita.

The more she does for local charities, the more she's known - and the more her house is used as an unofficial base for anyone who has something to give.

"The girls say the house looks like Del Boy's sometimes," says Anita.

(It doesn't actually. It's immaculate - once you've got past all the stuff in the hall, that is.)

Signed football shirts and donations all find their way to her house. "One kind lady, recently widowed, had been going through her late husband's things and found a fiver in his glasses case. She brought that round to give to a good cause. Wasn't that marvellous? But typical, too, of folk round here. You just have to say what you need and someone will come up with it.

"There are so many people who help - people, shops, the Prisoner of War camp and the girls at Barclays Bank in Wolsingham, a great team."

Every year there's a charity football match in aid of the Weardale Community Hospital. This year, in the match between the ladies of Stanhope and Wolsingham, Stanhope won. "We were robbed," says Anita, cheerfully.

The last fundraising effort was a joint one with Independence 4 Disability. They wanted to raise £2,500 to buy an insulin pump for a child with diabetes, part of the Run 500 miles campaign led by Dr Bill Lamb of Bishop Auckland General Hospital, who has vowed to keep running until every child in his care who needs a pump, has one.

"He was expecting us to give him the money for one pump, but in fact we raised £7,500, enough for three. They're going to children in the area and it's nice to know we've helped make their lives a bit easier."

The next big event is the Stars In Their Eyes night in Wolsingham, on November 11.

"I compere it and sing a bit. I never back down from a challenge. But the real stars are the people who get up on stage and do the acts. They're great, real stars. And they don't get anything for winning, just a cup and the glory," says Anita.

The success of fundraising in Weardale is all the more remarkable because the dale isn't exactly flush with money, certainly not much to spare. In recent years, there's been a lot of unemployment. After the cement works closed, many families had to move out in search of work.

But Anita is cheerfully upbeat.

"People always describe Weardale as a dying dale. I think that's all wrong. It might have its problems but there is enormous community spirit here. Everything we've done just proves that. This is a dale that's very much alive."