EMPLOYEES of the Darwen branch of Akzo Nobel have been instrumental in raising £18, 000 to help children in the Third World.

That is the total raised by Akzo Nobel's 4, 000 UK employees through sales of the company Christmas card last year - which was designed by Tahir Khan whose father works at the Darwen site.

Tahir, eight, entered the Darwen heat of the competition and his card was picked from thousands of entries from across the country to be the company card for 1996.

All the printing costs for the cards sold in Britain were provided free of charge and the card was circulated throughout the organisation - covering 70, 000 people in over 50 countries.

Now the company has handed over the cash to PLAN International, which works in over 40 developing countries to enable children, their families and communities to make lasting improvements to their lives. The money will go towards building and improving schools in Uttar Pradesh in rural North India.

A spokeswoman for Akzo Nobel said: "We chose PLAN because of its emphasis on community participation and sustainability matches Akzo Nobel's long term philosophy."

Many local companies supplied material free of charge and the company would like to thank NWC Ltd, Tipographic Ltd, Modo Paper, Nayler the Printer Ltd, Avery Dimension UK Ltd and Springfields Labels Ltd.

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