FUNDRAISERS across the county have been amazed and delighted at the response to the typhoon appeal.

A four-day collection by Calne Lions raised £3,000 for victims; they were out with their collecting buckets in the High Street on Tuesday and Wednesday and in the foyer of Sainsbury’s on Friday and Saturday.

Club president Amanda Venton said: “The people of Calne were so generous, it was unbelievable.”

The response was equally generous in Royal Wootton Bassett where Rotary members collected £1,500 in two days, including from packing people’s shopping bags. Rotarian Chris Tidball said: “There was a brilliant response, especially as we were collecting after Children in Need.

“We have an ongoing programme of support to international charities and regularly sponsor a ShelterBox, money which is held in a pool awaiting a cry for help. In this case, as with the previous tsunami, the scale of the disaster was just so big that we felt we needed to do something more.”

The generosity of shoppers in Devizes means the town’s Rotary Club can buy three ShelterBoxes for the Philippines.

Devizes Rotary Club members were collecting donations in the town centre on Friday and raised close to £1,500.

Geoff Collins, immediate past president of the club, said: “The money raised will go towards three Rotary ShelterBoxes that cost £500 each. Each box contains a large eight-man tent.”

Chippenham Rotary Club raised about £1,200 in five hours through collections on the High Street on Saturday.

Rotary club member Rick Squires said: “One of our collectors was approached by a Philippine couple who gave her a big hug and cried. They said how grateful they were that Rotary had responded so quickly.”

The Lions Club of Chippenham has also donated £1,000.