Unite union members at Sellafield have raised £500 which will help the families of sick children.

Every Sellafield employee in the union gets 5p a day to donate to charity. “With more than 1,200 employees, that soon adds up,” union representative Sean Cullen said.

The £500 was presented to Jill and Greg Johnston, the founders of the charity Team Evie. The couple set up the charity after the death of their first baby, Evie, who struggled for six months before losing her life to a number of complex illnesses.

Since then the couple have raised thousands of pounds to help other families in their situation.

The £500 will be used to buy Parent Bags which are supplied to the North East Children’s Transfer and Retrieval (NECTAR) team based in the North East which transfers critically ill children from around this region to hospitals in the North East.

The Team Evie parent bags contain a drink, snack, cuddly toy, toiletries, face cloth, comb, a hair bobble and other essentials for parents who have had to rush into hospital with their child without any time to prepare for a long stay.

“We have had a lot of feedback about how much these bags are appreciated,” Mr Johnston said. “We have been told they were a godsend.”

To find out more or to support Team Evie, visit the charity’s website: www.teamevie.org/store they