TWO East Lancashire supermarkets were the only stores in the North West to be given special certificates and £100 cheques for their charity efforts.

At the Golden Bear Awards at Asda in Leeds the stores in Rawtenstall and Burnley were honoured.

Jean Corless, from Waterfoot, was posthumously honoured for her charity fund-raising work at Asda in Rawtenstall.

She had a heart attack and died while at work in the grocery department in the store on July 4 last year.

While she was employed in Asda events organiser Yvette Jackson said she raised hundreds of pounds for charity by holding monthly quizzes among staff.

She said: "She was a very popular member of staff and her death hit everybody very hard. We nominated her for the award and her daughter Tina Shackleton, who also works in the grocery section, and Jean's husband Stuart collected her certificate."

They were also given a £100 cheque which has been donated to the British Heart Foundation.

At Burnley events organiser Gillian Lingard was nominated for outstanding community involvement which has led the store to raising £8,500 for charity over the last year.

The Burnley store also won a national award for its successful campaign The Big Eat when 1,200 children came into store along with the town's MP Peter Pike and Burnley's Mayor.

Gillian said: "We received two cheques for £100 each, one for each award, and so we have donated them to Victims of Crime.

"I got the individual award for all the fund-raising I organise and all the work I carry out in my own time. We are delighted to have raised so much money."