TWO Warrington charities, both have been inundated with calls since they were featured on The Secret Millionaire.

Last month Charlie Mullins, multi-millionaire boss of Pimlico Plumbing, went undercover at The John Holt Cancer Support Foundation and The Long Lane Garden Centre before awarding each £20,000.

Since the show was broadcasy on Channel 4 both charities’ phones have been ringing off the hook with people wanting to help out or use their services.

At the Long Lane Garden Centre one of their stars of the show, Snotty the Pot Man, has found his own fame by outselling all the other products 10 to one, with orders coming in from all over the country.

For the John Holt Cancer Support Foundation the programme has given them a much-needed boost of support.

“Within 12 hours of the programme going out we had 323 hits on our website,” said founder Chris Holt.

“We have got 12 new volunteers and people coming forward to do fundraising for us and we’ve got some new members who didn’t know we were here before.”

They are still waiting to move into their new premises but Charlie’s money has brought that a big step closer and the publicity from the show has helped them to furnish the new house, with a cooker and chairlifts among the donations.

And The Secret Millionaire fever has not stopped there. The Warrington Volunteer Centre has seen a huge increase in the number of people passing through its doors wanting to offer their help.

A large majority of them are seeking to work as a handyman, like Charlie did in the programme, but the centre offers work in many different sectors, said volunteer development manager Alison Cullen.

The centre helps put people into volunteering jobs across Warrington and the surrounding areas, like the Honey Rose Foundation in St Helens where Charlie also went.

Already this year the volunteer centre was seeing a 38 per cent increase in the number of people wanting to volunteer, largely down to the recession, but The Secret Millionaire added a further boost.

To find out what sort of things the volunteer centre can offer you, visit doit.org.uk or call 637609.