FUND-RAISING has continued across South Lakeland this week as residents collected cash to ease the plight of the victims of the Tsunami disaster in Asia, reports Caroline Beamish.

Thousands of pounds will now be donated to the international relief fund to help the people of Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Indonesia, whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed on December 26 last year.

Grange resident and human rights campaigner Luckshan Abeysuriya, who is the Nepal correspondent for Amnesty International and the United Nations Association UK, was devastated to learn that more than 5,000 people in his home town of Galle, in Sri Lanka, had been killed in the disaster.

The maternity hospital, main town and beachside of Galle were all either badly damaged or destroyed, leaving 20,000 residents without homes.

Mr Abeysuriya welcomed pledges of aid to the affected areas, stating reconstruction work in Sri Lanka alone could cost in the region of £1 billion.

This weekend, a charity auction will be held at The Grange Hotel to raise cash for the appeal.

Organised by Grange-over-Sands paramedics Carys Pattinson, Sonia Cowls and David Webster, the evening will see a variety of lots go under the hammer, including a five-course gourmet meal for six cooked in your own home, donated by The Bridge Caf and Bistro in Newby Bridge, as well as beauty treatments, quad biking and a piece of jewellery by Wave of Kendal.

"People have just been so generous, everyone really wants to do something to help," said Ms Pattinson.

"All the funds from the ticket sales will go to the appeal as the food has been donated by the hotel and then however much is raised at the auction will boost the total."

More than £3,715 has been donated by the congregation of the United Reform Church in Grange, which will be sent to the international fund.

More than 100 people enjoyed a charity concert by the Burton Allstars in Burton-in-Kendal Memorial Hall on Saturday, January 22. Many of the artists associated with the Allstars took to the stage to provide a night of musical entertainment in aid of the appeal.

Thanks to kind-hearted children at Castle Park Primary School in Kendal, a further £504 will go to the Radio Aid Tsunami Appeal following a very new' sale for which pupils were asked to donate one of their Christmas presents.

Despite the cold weather, pupils at Kendal's Holme Park School took part in a sponsored walk this week while wearing stepometers so they could gain sponsorship for every 100 steps they took. They also held a table-top sale, helping to raise almost £1,000 for the fund.

Ingrid Beattie, who helped organised the sponsored event, said: "The impetus of the walk was the helping of an imaginary friend in the stricken area and the aid that could be afforded to them by the children here at home.

"I think it's vitally important for children to become involved and to realise that they can take part in something to make a difference."

More events are planned, with all monies raised by the performances of pupils at Furness Music Centre, at an open day at Dowdales School in Dalton on Saturday, February 5, going to the fund.

Pupils at St Mary's CE Nursery and Infants School, Windermere, held a Rainbow of Hope day, wearing multi-coloured clothing, and raised £417.

The school also sent a message of love and hope to children in Madras in the form of a two-metre length of blue voile, which will be sewn together with messages from 50 other schools.

Three generations of a Kendal family undertook a sponsored trek around the South Lakeland countryside to raise money for the victims of the tsunami.

Gail Heap of Greengate, Kendal, walked a seven-mile round trip from her home to Natland, via The Helm, along with her daughter Tracey and granddaughter Charlotte, who is only three. They raised more than £100 for the Tsunami Appeal.