A ladder specialist has pledged to donate £1,500 to an East Lancashire Methodist church.

Browns Ladders will donate the money to Brierfield Methodist Church, with funds used to help provide hot meals and a warm respite for the residents of Brierfield, as well as funding their weekly food bank and assisting with the church's increasing heating bills.

Established in 1948, Browns Ladders have been based in Brierfield, Nelson, for more than 75 years.

From humble beginnings, the family-run business has grown to become one of the UK’s leading ladder retailers and is widely recognised as a market leader.

Yet, despite their growing success, the business is keen to give back to their local community and support the residents of the town they call home.

Back in December, as part of the business's annual charitable efforts over the festive period, Browns Ladders approached Brierfield Methodist Church with a £500 donation, and pledged to donate £500 for the following two months.

Financial Director, Barbara Ginley said: “Supporting our local community means a great deal to us here at Browns Ladders.

"This past year was a difficult one for many across Lancashire. With rising energy costs and the cost of living crisis, we knew we wanted to step in and help where we could.

“Having seen the fantastic work Brierfield Methodist Church does for the vulnerable in our community, we were eager to help support their mission and look after those local to us.”

Brierfield Methodist Church runs a free cafe every Thursday from 11.30am to 1.30pm to help those struggling with the cost of living crisis, serving hot soup, bread rolls, cakes, biscuits and tea and coffee to anyone in need.

The church also provides a weekly food bank for residents.

Over December, the church saw record numbers of local residents needing support, and they anticipate these figures will continue to rise as the cold weather continues throughout January and February.

Organiser, Anne Dixon said: “Whilst our foodbank has been running for several years, we found that recently we were getting more and more requests for food items that could be eaten straight from the tin and didn’t need to be heated - as people simply didn’t have money to put in their prepayment metre.

“In response to this, we launched our free café. The kind donation from Browns Ladders, alongside support from others in the community, means we can continue providing a valuable safety net for the most vulnerable across Brierfield. We cannot thank them enough for their support.”

For more information on the work of Brierfield Methodist Church, please visit their website.

Alternatively, to get in touch with Browns Ladders, contact them via their website or give them a call on 01282 615 517.