CUSTOMERS will parade their support for charities by enduring the most permanent and painful form of body paint.

Artists at Acreedo Tattoo and Body Piercings will ink brave customers on Good Friday with logos representing cancer and mental health charities.

Jamie Burtenshaw, who manages the shop in Abingdon's High Street, said owners Colin and Bella Morton came up with the quirky fundraising idea while on holiday in Asia.

He said: "They went away to Thailand and whilst they were out there they saw lots of poverty. It inspired them to do a bit for charity. Me and Bella sat down together and asked how we could approach it. We stuck it on Facebook which hit it off really well with people making suggestions. We saw children's charities and mental health charities were the big ones."

They chose to raise money for Clic Sargent, a charity which supports children with cancer and their families, and Oxfordshire Mind which advises people suffering from mental illnesses.

Mr Burtenshaw said: "Straight away we thought of Clic which is just taking cancer by the horns. We thought Good Friday would be great because lots of people will be off and we can get children involved.

"We have lots of loyal customers coming in and getting involved. It's one of those positive things, it's about teaching people when they get a tattoo to wear it with pride and have a better attitude."

Customers will offer their skin as a canvas for special designs priced at a minimum donation of £20, including Clic's pink flower and Mind's navy blue squiggle.

Children and more squeamish adults can pay for a piercing or pain-free temporary tattoo instead.

Newlyweds Mr and Mrs Morton have hosted similar events before, tattooing jigsaw pieces to raise money for an autism charity and pink ribbons for a breast cancer charity.

Mrs Morton said: "Our team wanted to fundraise simply to give back to our community by providing a fun day, but also raising awareness and money for some very important causes.

“Many of our staff have children so we felt giving to a children’s charity was very special to us.

“With regards to Oxfordshire Mind everyone knows someone, is related to, or is personally suffering with a mental health-related illness."

Clic Sargent's fundraising manager, James McDonald, labelled their efforts "ink-credible".

He said: "I cannot thank Acreedo enough. I urge everyone to take part.

“They will be making a huge difference to the young cancer patients we support and their whole family.”

The charity has a treatment centre in the John Radcliffe hospital in Headington.

Anyone interested in taking part in Acreedo's fundraiser can visit between 10am and 6pm on March 25.