A TEAM of 30 men have raised £1,200 for Halton Haven Hospice on a fancy dress pub crawl.

Dressed as bobsledders from the Cool Runnings film, the lads visited eight pubs across Widnes.

Billy Webb, from Farnworth, and his friends have been staging their Christmas Eve marathon for the past eight years and choose different costumes and charities.

The lads each pay £5 and face fines for misdemeanours on route. They also collect donations from family, friends and in the pubs.

Mr Webb, 26, said: “We chose Halton Haven as it was mentioned by one of the group, Craig Lawton, who knows from his job in hospitality about the work the hospice does.

“It is local charity with a fantastic cause.

“It was great to hear a couple of people come up to me and share their story of what the charity has done for their family. This made myself and the lads extremely satisfied we picked a great charity in Halton Haven.”

Chris Andrews, community fundraiser at Halton Haven Hospice, said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to Billy and the rest of the lads for raising such a fantastic amount for the hospice.

“Donations like this are so important in allowing us to continue caring for local people who are living with end of life conditions so we are incredibly grateful for their efforts.

“The group has raised a small fortune for a variety of worthy causes over the last five years and we are so pleased to have been one of them.

“I’m looking forward to welcoming Billy and some of the others to the Hospice soon so they can see how their money will be spent.”

To sponsor the group visit justgiving.com/fundraising/Billy-Webb2.

For more information on Halton Haven Hospice visit haltonhavenhospice.co.uk or call 01928 712 728.