Over £1,300 has been raised for charity by apprentices from a leading manufacturer.

Worcester-based Yamazaki Mazak apprentices collected the sum for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (MAAC) by organising a car wash on Friday, May 24.

On that day, almost 100 cars were cleaned outside the manufacturer's European headquarters on Badgeworth Drive.

Read more: Hole opens up in Worcester's medieval Powick Old Bridge

The company then doubled the money raised by its apprentices.

MAAC supports residents across six Midlands counties, and has completed 75,000 missions since its launch in 1991.

This service operates from three different air bases, including Strensham on the Worcestershire-Gloucestershire border.

Matt Palmer, machining apprentice at the company, said: "Midlands Air Ambulance does so much for our local community.

"Given the high cost of running and maintaining such a critical service, we wanted to make our own contribution to help the charity continue its life-saving work.

"It was great to see so many cars come in for a pre-bank holiday clean while supporting a worthy cause."

The car wash is not the first charitable activity that the apprentices have arranged, including internal competitions, sports events, and food bank and toy donations.

Charities supported in these efforts have included Acorns Children’s Hospice and the Salvation Army.

Max Jones, people development manager at the company, said: "Our apprentices have a great track record of supporting local charities and the latest car wash for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has been one of our most successful fundraising initiatives to date.

"The event was fully organised by the current apprentice cohort so the company was more than delighted to match the money raised."

Wiktoria Jaworska, corporate partnerships executive for MAAC, said: "We would like to say a huge thank you to Yamazaki Mazak Worcester for raising £1,300 for our critical lifesaving pre-hospital emergency service.

"The team held two car wash events in May where they washed more than 100 cars.

"Funds raised will help fund four missions in our fleet of critical care cars."