LAW firm Keoghs handed over a cheque for £6,000 to a host of local charities as it celebrated the relaunch of its charity committee.

The Middlebrook-based firm, which employs almost 1,200 people in seven UK offices, four of which are in Bolton, has raised more than £14,000 for local charities in the past 18 months.

Among them are Chorley-based children’s hospice, Derian House; Urban Outreach, which works with disadvantaged and vulnerable people in Bolton and the Destitute Animal Shelter in Northolt Drive.

Keoghs’ business support director and chairman of the charity committee, Steve Lees, said he hoped the relaunch will not only increase awareness of Keoghs’ commitment to the local community but also highlight the hard work, dedication and contribution all the charities make to those in need.

He said: “Most of our staff are from Bolton and the immediate area and, with many relatively new to the business, we felt it was the right time to relaunch the charity committee to highlight the partnerships we have built, and continue to build, with local charities.

“We worked closely with Urban Outreach at Christmas to provide over 800 selection boxes for their Christmas meal campaign.

“This was a great success, with a number of staff collecting and sorting the hampers at their warehouse. We will be doing similar this year as well as planning visits to and from the Destitute Animal Shelter and working closely with Derian House who do a wonderful job under exceptional circumstances. We are proud to support them all.”

Dave Bagley from Urban Outreach said: “Helped by schools, churches and local businesses such as Keoghs, we put together hampers and distributed them to struggling local families, and many lonely, elderly people, last Christmas.

“We are looking forward to working with Keoghs not only this Christmas but throughout the year to remind those in our community who are struggling for whatever reason that others are thinking of them.”