GOT any spare coins left over from your last foreign holiday?

St Leonard's Hospice, in York, wants to take them off your hands and turn them into English money to help with its running costs.

Almost everyone who's been on a holiday in Europe has piles of coins around the house waiting until the next hoped-for trip, but from next January, most European countries will switch to the Euro, and spare coins will be useless - except to St Leonard's.

Since 1987, volunteer Brian Rey, of Huntington, has been encouraging and cajoling people to offer their old coins - pre-decimal British ones as well as foreign ones - and their used stamps and old postcards to him. He sells them to dealers, and so far has made more than £12,000.

He said: "It's no good hanging on to your old European coins after the end of this year, so people can do some good with them now and let us have them to raise funds for St Leonard's.

"I would ask people to empty out pots and purses, and gather francs, marks, guilders, pesetas and punts and put them to work to help local people."

Coins, cards and stamps can be left at the hospice reception in Tadcaster Road, between 9am and 5pm or at the St Leonard's Hospice shops in Acomb, Haxby, Pocklington and Tang Hall.

Updated: 11:38 Thursday, August 09, 2001