A clothing shop in Kingston has raised £10,000 to help fight racial inequality and knife crime in the borough by selling access to limited edition merchandise.

Natterjacks in Kingston sell shoes and clothes made by some of the best-loved fashion brands from the UK and elsewhere.

The limited edition shoes and clothes that are in stock at Natterjacks are some of the store's most popular, and rare, items.

As such, there's a huge demand for access to them, and that presented Andy at Natterjacks with a fundraising opportunity.

He turned to Kingston Race Equalities Council (KREC), a celebrated outreach group based in town who promote racial equality and an end to violence, in particular among young people in Kingston.

"We got access to some really in demand sneakers from Nike SB and decided that this was an opportunity to raise money for a local Charity," Andy, the owner of Natterjacks Kingston, said.

"Raffle tickets were sold online with the winners getting the chance to buy a pair.

"We chose Kingston Race and Equalities Council as we support the good work they do in the borough," he added.

For KREC, who are used to keeping up their vital outreach work on much smaller charitable donations, the news of a five-figure donation was nothing short of astounding.

"It came out of the blue. I said: 'What do you mean £10,000?!'" John Azah, KREC's founder and CEO, told the Surrey Comet.

"It was incredible. It's just amazing.

"This is such a huge amount for us. We get several hundred pounds from local businesses here and there but this is something else," he said.

The total raised by Andy and the team at Natterjacks came in just under £10,000, and was then rounded up by the store to £10,000 and "a nice round number".

"Hate crime has gone up in some places," John pointed out.

"But then you've got an individual who, totally unsolicited, reaches out and says we're going to give you this money because of the good work you are doing.

"I just think it's incredible that there are humans out there who are doing great things like that and it's totally uncelebrated," he added.

KREC undertake specific case work with vulnerable and underprivileged people, focusing on the youth in Kingston, and promote race equality through policy monitoring and awareness raising throughout the borough.

The money, John said, would go towards some of the most vulnerable young people in the borough and help dissuade them from turning in their desperation to violence and knife crime.

"This funding will help us continue our work with vulnerable young people who we need to prevent from getting lost in the system, who could end up using knives and violence because they feel it is protecting themselves.

"We hope to enable them to develop their education and careers in the long run."

For more information on KREC and their work, click here.