HOMELESS Cheshire cats are purring extra loudly this spring, thanks to staff at a Chester finance firm who pounced on an unusual and particularly sweet charity initiative.

The near-200 employees of The Funding Corporation were asked to sacrifice chocolate treats for a week – and to spend the money on cat food for a local animal rescue centre.

In response, the staff amassed a huge feline feast which will help ease the financial burden faced by the charity in feeding the 60 cats and kittens under its care.

Responsible for tabling the dinner donations idea was the charity committee of The Funding Corporation, which is based on Chester Business Park.

The committee is organising a series of different activities in 2013 to support North Clwyd Animal Rescue at Trelogan which staff voted to be their charity of the year.

The organisation, which has a non-destruct policy and cares for over 1500 domestic pets each year, is extremely active in helping animals from the Chester area.

In addition to fundraising work, employees at The Funding Corporation will also be helping out at the charity’s many awareness events in the region.

They will be able to do this in work time and on full pay, thanks to the company’s Employee Volunteer Programme, which allows staff to take one day off each year to help charity.

Meanwhile, this week’s cat and kitten food appeal was judged an outstanding success by Stephanie Reynolds, operations support manager who is also chair of the firm’s charity committee.

Ms Reynolds said: “Last year, we asked staff to bring in sweet treats for donating to a local special needs school – so this year, we suggested everyone swapped confectionery for cat food.

“The response was fantastic, and we soon filled our store-room with tins, pouches and pussy treats.

“North Clwyd Animal Rescue tell us that the savings will be able to go towards buying cat pods for the new cattery unit they are planning.”