STAFF and volunteers from the West Devon-based charity CHICKS raised a fantastic £9,000 during a music festival held in London?s Regents Park recently.

The Fruitstock Festival is organised and funded by fresh-fruit smoothie makers Innocent Drinks, which for the second year invited CHICKS to hold a bucket collection at the two-day event.

At last year?s Fruitstock, CHICKS raised nearly £5,000 which was used to kit out a new playbarn.

Jenny Venning, who co-ordinated the team of collectors at the festival, said: ?We really can?t thank Innocent Drinks enough for allowing us to fundraise at Fruitstock.

?This is the second year Innocent has chosen us as the beneficiary of coin collections and we are extremely grateful to them and overwhelmed by the support of the festival-goers ? we are really touched and encouraged by the genuine interest there is in our charity.?

CHICKS, which is based on the Devon and Cornwall border near Milton Abbot, provides holiday breaks for deprived children from inner city areas in the UK.