The outstanding fundraising and charitable work of staff at the Swindon headquarters of Nationwide has earned them recognition at society's Employee Community Awards.

Their achievements were celebrated in style at a special ceremony held at the Imperial Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

Nationwide encourages its employees to get involved in voluntary and fundraising work, recog-nising that it benefits the community and helps employees with their own personal development.

And employees from Swindon scooped five of the 10 awards which were presented to Nationwide staff from across the UK.

The Swindon winners were: The Lifestyle Team and Nationwide House Running Club jointly won the Most Successful Fundraising Activity Team Award for arranging a fun run which raised £2,500 for the New York Disaster Fund.

Steve Patching received Most Successful Fund-raising Activity Individual Award. He ran the Bath Half Marathon to raise £1,500 for the Terrence Higgins Trust and completed the run in a personal best time for that distance.

Sherie Hayes received the Special Achievement Individual Award after taking part in the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Moonwalk in London. Sherie, who has an artificial heart valve, completed the 26 mile walk in seven hours 46 minutes and raised over £600.

The Special Achievement Team Award went to the Nationwide Treasury Bike Ride team which included employees from both Swindon and Northampton offices. The team took part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. They completed the 58 mile ride in just four and a half hours and raised over £6,000 between them.

Best PR and Publicity Award went to staff from Nationwide Direct, Swindon, who raised £4,000 for Children in Need.

Philip Williamson, Nationwide's chief executive, who presented the awards said: "I am really proud of the fact that our employees have put so much time and effort into making a real difference to their local communities. As a building society, Nationwide has grown from the local communities it serves and takes great pleasure in celebrating the Employee Community Awards."