FUNDRAISERS targeting an international grant of over $40,000 to help Ebola sufferers say they are closing in on the cash thanks to the generosity of residents during a street collection last week.

Marlow Rotarians took to the streets on Friday to raise £2300 towards the appeal, which was started by Marlow Rotary Club’s Brian Jonson and Jim Clarke last month.

And with over £8000 generated from donations across the area, organisers are confident they now have the cash to qualify for a Rotary International fund.

President Mr Jonson said: "We had a target of around £6000 and we have easily exceeded that now, and that’s in just over a week so I’m very pleased with that.

"We had a lot of good feedback, one person said it was about time somebody did something. I was on the bridge for about two and a half hours and everyone was really positive about what we are doing.

"We are getting closer to the grant, we have had correspondence with Rotary in the States and we’re really hopeful we’ll get it, all the signs are positive."

Mr Jonson added that he intends to talk to the top level of the Rotary organisation about the possibility of launching the campaign into a sustainable nationwide Ebola appeal.

Marlow Rotary Club held a public forum at Marlow’s URC church on September 1, hearing from aid worker David Frankfort who had flown in from Liberia to update rotary colleagues on the situation on the ground.

The fundraisers say through their links with Rotarians in capital city Monrovia, they get help get much-needed sanitary supplies straight to the worst affected areas.

Clubs across the region have been adding to the fund, including High Wycombe, Bourne End and Cookham, with street collections as far away as Oxfordshire getting behind their Marlow colleagues' campaign.