WARNDON villagers put the fun into fund-raising when more than 300 laced up their running shoes.

Activities on Sunday kicked off with Worcester City Football Club penalty shoot-out, a bouncy castle and disco, face painting and stalls. The 8th Warndon Villages fun run started at 2pm.

Participants chose to run one, two or three laps and everyone received a medal for completing their chosen distance.

Caren Yates, who works at the Lyppard Grange Community Centre, the venue for the event, said: "We invited all of our user groups to attend and we were delighted with the number of other people who turned out. There were more than 300 runners, which was great, and we hope to have raised more than £1,500 from registration fees alone."

One of the runners taking part was Alison Leharme, who was there with her two children - Sasha, aged three, and Ethan, one. Ms Leharme, of Watchetts Green, said: "We had a great time and it is a good way of raising money for worthy causes."

Emma Cook, aged 24, of Windermere Drive, was with daughter Alisha, aged two. She said: "We have just moved here and I think it is great that the community is getting together like this to raise money."

The fun run raised money for Leukaemia CARE and for the Dyspraxia Foundation. The rest of the day's profits went to an after-school group at the community centre.

Louise Carlin, Leukaemia CARE's fundraising manager, took part in the run for the first time.

She said: "Even the weather was on our side, being overcast, but warm. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves."