A street collection in Marlow at the weekend raised almost £3,000 for charity.

The Rotary Club of Marlow held a bucket appeal for the victims of the Sierra Leone mudslide and flood disaster.

Organisers said the appeal, which was organised at short notice by Brian Jonson, was a “huge success”.

A total of £2,863 plus gift aid was raised, which will be sent to Sierra Leone by Build on Books, a charity which helps schools and communities in the West African country to overcome the devastating effects of poverty.

More than 400 people are expected to have died, with dozens missing, in the disaster, which happened in the country’s capital Freetown last Monday (August 14).

Build on Books spokesman and rotarian Lori Spragg said: “This is our third disaster response so we know we needed to act fast to save lives.

“We know how important it is to act quickly to prevent a serious deterioration in the health of the survivors.

“Urgently needed items including food, water, bales of clothing, bundles of shoes, soap and other essential items have been bought from wholesalers, and are being distributed to survivors in the camp by the Build on Books disaster relief team.

“We have been advised that things may get worse in the next four weeks if cholera and other diseases take hold.

“We all want to help avoid further tragedies so we will be continuing to fundraise to provide both medium and long-term support to those affected.”

Ms Spragg said the charity hopes the survivors will be moved quickly to a camp at 6 mile which is close to its base in Sierra Leone, which she says will make it easier and safer for Build on Books to help them, since the roads to Regent are still treacherous and there are fears that more mudslides and flooding could occur.

She added: “Our priority now is to help survivors without delay, and this wonderful donation will help us do that.”

Rotarian Lance Slater, who was part of the 25-strong team collecting donations all day on Sunday, said the volunteers had “very good support” from generous Marlovians who donated on the day.

He said: “It all went very well. We know the money is going direct to the source and every pound spent gets spent on the causes it needs to go to.

Town Mayor Cllr Jocelyn also helped with the collection, donning a Rotary Club of Marlow vest.

Volunteers from the Rotary Club of Marlow worked in hour-and-a-half shifts between 8.30am and 5.30pm to collect the funds.

Speaking about the Rotary Club of Marlow, Ms Spragg, who founded Build on Books in 2008, said: “They were amazing, they called me after the disaster happened and said they were going to do a collection.

“It was absolutely incredible, absolutely fantastic. Every single pound collected will be going to the survivors to help them get through and to continue to survive.

“It was a really good partnership.”

To donate, go to https://mydonate.bt.com/events/sierraleonedisaster.