A CHARITY football team has raised some £28,500 towards two South Cheshire charities.

Barry Donegan’s All Star Charity XI has smashed its target of £25,000 for The Wingate Centre and St Luke’s Hospice.

During the All Stars' six month fundraising campaign, Barry organised six charity football games against West Brom, Man City, Winsford, Liverpool, Newcastle Town and finally Hollyoaks.

And they only lost two of the games - against Liverpool and Hollyoaks - both with a 2-0 defeat.

More than 1,500 spectators came to watch the Hollyoaks match last week at the Northwich Victoria Stadium. The Hollyoaks team consisted of well known faces such as Nick Pickard, Jamie Lomas, Chris Fountain and Ryan Thomas, aka Coronation Street’s Jason Grimshaw.

Crewe and Nantwich MP Edward Timpson, came close to scoring for the All Stars on a couple of occasions.

The money will be split equally between the two charities.

A spokesmand for The Wingate Centre said: “As an independent charity, we rely heavily on the generosity of people such as Barry’s All Star Charity Team, who help raise much needed funds to enable us to carry out essential refurbishment work to the bedrooms used by the children and disabled youngsters who come to us for respite and holidays."

Organisers at St Luke’s Hospice said they are 'blown away' by the amount of money raised.

They will use it to help create a reception garden at the hospice.

Barry said: "I would like to thank all the sponsors who donated funds to the campaign, including The Holly Bush Inn in Winterley, The Broughton Arms in Haslington, AMIC Haulage and Think Print.

Campaign sponsor David Dunn, who also plays in the All Stars, has already pledged his support to next year's campaign.

Barry added: "A lot of hard work and organising took place to raise this incredible amount of money.

"It was not achieved by any one person but by the amazing contributions of all the players, their wives, families, friends and local businesses."