A MAN who wore a baked bean tin suit to participate in the Great North Run is thrilled with the amount of money raised for a local food bank  and vows to do even better next year.

Bob McKay, 47 from Wylam has rased £1350 for Newcastle Westend Foodbank to help it get more recognition for helping families and those in need during hard times such as the cost of living.

Not only did Bob decide to run the Great North Marathon this year, after a couple of years break,  but he wanted to show who he was running for by creating a baked bean tin suit with the foodbank's name on it.

Speaking of the day, Bob said: "It went pretty well but it was much tougher than I thought.

"I also underestimated how much support I’d get from the crowds – it was incredible.

"All in all I raised about £1350 so well above the £1000 target, so I am very pleased.

"I’m planning on doing it again next year and a colleague who wanted to do it with me this year will hopefully also be joining me – there might be two giant food tins."

Gemma Whaley from Newcastle Westend Foodbank said: "What an amazing feat Bob has completed, it couldn’t have been easy in the heat on Sunday, not only to run the GNR but also carrying the large tin of beans on his back too would have made it even harder.

"Bob has managed to raise £1359 which is a huge amount of money for our Foodbank.

"Everyone who ran the GNR for our Foodbank managed to raise a combined total of £7094 which will be used to purchase much need stock for our food parcels so that we can continue to meet the growing demand on our services.

"We would like to thank all the runners who ran the GNR for our Foodbank and congratulate them on raising a huge amount of money which will help local people across the city of Newcastle."