VOLUNTEERS raised nearly £3,500 in one week for local and national charities using their community shop.

Led by charity champion Ray Collins, Wantage residents used the new shop, The Mix, on Mill Street, to raise funds for Cancer Research UK, Clic Sargent and Oxford Children’s Hospital as well as promoting other local groups.

The Mix has been donated to the town temporarily by landlords Wantage Investments Ltd, in a deal struck by town team co-ordinators Iain Nicholson and Mim Norvell.

Mr Collins was joined by representatives of Wantage Counselling Service, the October Club for Dementia sufferers and the Wantage neighbourhood police team.

He said: “We raised £3,488, so The Mix has definitely worked. Although hard at times, mainly because of the weather, it has been one of the most enjoyable weeks I have ever spent fundraising.”

Mr Nicholson and Ms Norvell have been employed on a year-long contract with Vale of White Horse District Council to boost town trade, funded by the town’s High Street Innovation Fund.