Men and women at a Norwich charity shop have been wearing bras over their clothes to encourage people to donate unwanted bras to Oxfam.

Staff at Oxfam's Magdalen Street store posed for pictures wearing the donated underwear to highlight the charity's national campaign - the Big Bra Hunt - which aims to collect one million bras by the end of April and is being supported by celebrities Helen Mirren, Zoe Ball and Miquita Oliver.

The charity is asking women to donate unwanted bras after research by Oxfam showed on average a woman has 11 bras but leaves about four of them languishing in their wardrobe.

Adrian Turner, a deputy manager at the Magdalen Street store, said: 'Here in Magdalen Street we can sell donated good quality bras to people that perhaps cannot afford to go to the larger retail shops, and we can also send them to an Oxfam project in Senegal. We hope lots of people will donate bras to our Magdalen Street shop. The Oxfam shops in Bedford Street and St Giles Street in Norwich are also accepting bra donations.'

Oxfam's Frip Ethique project in Senegal trades unsold second-hand clothes from Oxfam shops and provides employment for women in the area. Donated bras are among the items that make the most money for the project: they are one of the most desirable items in West African second-hand markets because bras are complex to manufacture and so very few developing countries have the facilities to make them.

• The locations of other Oxfam stores in Norfolk and Suffolk collecting bras for the Big Bra Hunt include Market Hill in Diss, Norfolk Street in King's Lynn, and Bevan Street in Lowestoft.

• emma.knights@archant.co.uk