Staff at Axminster’s biggest firm dressed down - and came up with a welcome donation for a local charity.

Axminster Tools and Machinery staff held an 'Ugly Shirt Day' to raise funds for Arc, the locally-based counselling service which focuses on mental health.

Employees were encouraged to wear their ugliest, boldest, brightest shirt and pay £1 for the privilege.

The prize for the ugliest shirt, chosen by a mystery judge, went to Scott Peach, a specialist sales advisor in the business services team.

The charity event, which raised £83, was organised by accounts apprentice Lydia Burrough, 24. She has been studying accountancy through Exeter College and at the recent Apprenticeship and Employer Awards 2020, she was nominated for outstanding performance in the subject.

She has just attained merit in her Association of Accountancy Technicians' course after completing level four.

Arc is Axminster Tools' current chosen charity to support.

Arc describes itself as providing an 'easily accessible, flexible local counselling at the heart of the community'.

The charity is committed to providing a service that aspires to no waiting list, no formal cost to its service users, no prescriptive limitation of sessions and no discharge policy.

Arc is based at the Axminster Medical Practice where it supports patients registered there who are seeking help through times of profound loss, trauma and change.

Counsellors offer one to one sessions. They spend in-depth time with people, looking at their needs and concerns. They will help them readjust to some of the painful changes taking place in their life.

Since opening its doors in January 2007, Arc has tirelessly committed itself to providing a profoundly humanistic, relational model of talking therapies within its NHS setting.

The organisation is entirely self funded and relies solely on donations.

For more information about Arc, visit its website at www.arcaxminster.org where people can find out how to support the group by donating much needed funds, fundraising for its good cause, volunteering at its dedicated charity shop and for its craft project Make and Mend and offering any skills that could make the organisation stronger for years to come.