They think it's all over with £20m in the bank

Fundraisers around Staffordshire have been digging out their running shoes and swimming costumes to collect thousands of pounds for Sport Relief 2008.

Sponsored swims, mile-long runs and gruelling bike rides are just some of the activities that have been taking place around the region - and the fun and fitness show no signs of stopping over the weekend.

In Stafford, 240 pupils at Cooper Perry Primary School completed a five-hour run for the charity. The youngsters ran in relays on the playing field to keep up the pace from 9.30am until 2.30pm.

And when their turn came for a lunch break, the staff stepped in to keep the jog going.

PE co-ordinator Debbie Parrish said the event provided an ideal bit of training for those planning to enter the Stafford Fun Run tomorrow.

And teachers took on pupils at netball to boost the funds being raised at another Stafford primary school.

The game was one of a number of activities organised at the Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Primary School, on Highfields, yesterday.

At Cheslyn Hay Sport and Community High School more than 700 students took part in a mile-long run on their school field.

Students in Years 7, 8, 9 and the sixth form donned special red Sport Relief socks to take part in the fundraising.

And staff at the school did their bit too, with 30 teachers rowing the equivalent distance of the English Channel in a combined effort on rowing machines.

The high school is hoping to raise as much as £2,000 for the Sport Relief campaign.

Teenagers at Chasetown Specialist Sports College were hoping to raise a similar amount, with every pupil at the Burntwood college running or walking a four-mile route around the Chasewater beauty spot yesterday. Each runner was asked to donate £2 for Sport Relief socks.

Student Kamil Kalinowski, who helped to organise the event at the Holland Road school, said the money would be spent by Comic Relief to help vulnerable people both at home and abroad in some of the world's poorest countries."We wanted to raise as much money as possible for the fund," he said.

Youngsters at schools in Walsall also enjoyed a fun-filled sports day in aid of the campaign.

Orienteering, swimming, netball, football, hockey, skipping, circuit training and a one-mile run all went ahead at St James' Primary, in Great Charles Street, Brownhills, with help from older pupils from Brownhills Community Technology College and Shelfield Sports and Community College.

Teachers said the event proved to be so popular, they are planning to repeat it every term.

Also in Walsall, staff at a call centre gave up the chance of a night out after a hard week's work to stay behind and man the phones to help raise money.

Around 150 workers at Homeserve, in Green Lane, volunteered their spare time to spend five hours between 7pm and midnight yesterday taking calls from hundreds of people wanting to pledge money.

It is the third time the home insurance firm has taken part in the fundraiser and staff were given special Sport Relief t-shirts to wear.

By Tony Raba