Crews were on fire working at the car wash

They washed hundreds of cars for Saturday morning shoppers at Boundary Mill and raised the superb total of £1,750, which they believe is something of a record.

It was all part of a mammoth fund raising challenge by the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service for the firefighters' charity and also Pendleside Hospice.

A group of 10, led by Simon Fryer from Barrowford, completed an epic 84 mile kayaking challenge on the Lancaster Canal.

Caroline Sturgess, from Darwen, Dave Clegg, from Colne, Phil Jones from Ribble Valley and Steve Morgan from Burnley, kayaked from Preston to Tewitfield.

They set off at midnight and had completed the epic feat by 8pm the following day, raising the fabulous amount of £7,500 for the firefighters' charity.

Fitness enthusiast Simon managed to kayak the full 20 hours, and was joined by a fellow colleague every 8.4 miles to complete the tandem kayak four hours quicker than they had aimed to.

Simon, who also raised £1,000 for Pendleside Hospice, said: “We were in a great, big tandem kayak with two seats.

“I was sitting in the back steering the kayak and I was joined by another colleague every 8.4 miles from various checkpoints.

“We had our own support drivers, who were friends and family, driving each colleague to various checkpoints where they would then get on the kayak.

“It was a fantastic experience and not that exhausting, as last year myself and a colleague did 128 miles on a kayak in two days on the Leeds/Liverpool canal.

The group aim to raise £10,000, and all those who took part in the kayak signed up to do their own fund raising too.

To donate to the group, visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=LancasterCanal84&isTeam=true