Staff at a North Yorkshire rapeseed business have raised more than £4,000 to support children with Down syndrome.

Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil, based at Thixendale in the Yorkshire Wolds, has adopted Downrigth Special, which supports children with Down syndrome in East Yorkshire, as its charity of the year.

And to celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Week from March 16- 21 members of staff walked, cycled or ran 662 miles to raise money.

The event was organised by Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil's Marcelle Tisserant. "Our plan was to walk, cycle or run 500 miles to raise £1000 and we're over the moon that our amazing team exceeded our expectations," he said. "Our fabulous supporters helped us to quadruple our fundraising target," he said.

Louise Smith from Downright Special added: "Everyone at Downright Special is absolutely delighted to be Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil's Charity of the Year.

"Their support to our charity has been wonderful and to have raised over £4000 on the charity walk is phenomenal, especially in these challenging times.

"This amount will really help us to continue to deliver our regular play and education sessions, our outreach work in schools and all the other activities we do to ensure children with Down syndrome can reach their full potential."

Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil plans to raise more money throughout the year with a series of events and a limited edition product that will be available later in the year. It has set up a Virgin Money Giving Page which sends every donation directly to Downright Special.

Downright Special was formed in 2007 by a group of parents to provide support to each other and any other parents who had children with Down syndrome.