The Trimdon Treasures charity shop opened for business in Front Street, Trimdon Colliery following months of hard work by fundraisers.

Victoria Tiffin, Pamela Duddin, Christine Coomber, Leanne Sayers and Carol Rooney launched the shop which hopes to help families through the credit crunch, while ploughing profits back into local worthy causes in the Trimdons.

The opening of the community shop comes after a number of fundraising events including a family funday, which raised £810, a coffee morning, which raked in £449 and discos which boosted coffers by £300.

Volunteers also raised £500 by staging two walk on water events at Hartlepool Marina, and £1,000 by launching a Trimdon Treasures community magazine to help towards running costs.

Mum-of-three Victoria said: "We had a really good opening day. We raised £124 on the day through sales."

Victoria, 30, said the group would continue to raise funds for the shop and volunteers would also be applying for grant funding from sources such as the National Lottery.

The shop sells clothing, some of which are brand new, bric-a-brac, toys, furniture, televisions, and "everything you would get in a normal charity shop", said Victoria who, lives in Trimdon Village and has three children, Bradley Delaney, five, Bethany Delaney, four, and one-year-old Bobby Delaney.

The shop is open Monday to Friday from 9am until noon.

Anyone interested in donating funds or items for sale or wants to apply for funding from the shop's profits can call Victoria on 07933 828734.

A charity womens' night will be held next week in aid of the shop.

The adult-only event will take place at The Bird in Hand pub and will feature male strippers.

The event starts at 7pm on Thursday, July 16, and tickets costing £2.50 are available from the pub, in Salters Lane, Trimdon Villag