A fire station is celebrating after managing to win a national competition for the sixth consecutive time.

Watch manager for Egremont fire station, David McDowell, put out an appeal to the community in January in order to collect as many tonnes of textiles as possible, as part of the Bag it and Bank it competition.

When the weight is converted to cash the money goes to help the Fire Fighters Charity, which provides services to enhance the lives of serving and retired firefighters, fire personnel and their families.

The station managed to collect 10,738 kilogrammes, raising £2,362 for the charity.

Kevin Biles, sales and recycling manager for the charity, came up with the recycling idea.

He said: “Egremont has done it again.

“They raised 10.7 tonnes, which is fantastic.

“To put it into perspective, across the whole of the UK the second placed station raised 3 tonnes and around 20 stations raised a tonne, which is great, but to collect over 10-and-a-half tonnes in over a month is amazing.

“For some reason everyone in Egremont pile in with donations and they don’t just save it for January, they sustain a massive donation to the charity every year, with donations every month.

“We will also be sharing some of the tips and ideas that Dave and the team at Egremont do across the whole of the UK.”

Kevin will be travelling to Egremont fire station on March 9 to present the team with the rag trophy award and a hamper, which David has said they will donate to the community again.

David said: “Egremont fire station would like to say a massive thank you to the whole community, the support has been absolutely fantastic.

“Egremont is known for its great fund raising and it’s down to all the support we receive, without that, the charity could not function.”

Kevin added: “I would like to thank the station, the whole community and The Whitehaven News for the support we get and for getting the message out about the work that we do.”

He said that the competition will be running again next year.