When disaster strikes Rotarians don't hang about.

The devastating Italian earthquake struck 65 miles north-east of Rome last Wednesday morning. The survivors will need food and shelter and medical facilities for many months, including through the winter, until permanent homes can be found, or their homes rebuilt.

Two days later, on Friday, Waitrose in Stratford kindly agreed to allow Shipston Rotarians to organise a collection for the earthquake survivors the next day, Saturday, just 3 days after the disaster.

Shipston Rotary want to thank all the generous customers at Waitrose who donated the remarkable sum of £814.09.

Part of this amount will probably be used to pay for a Shelter Box, a large self contained, highly weather resistant, easy to erect, dome type tent designed specifically for disaster emergencies. It comes in a box and has everything, bedding, cooking facilities, utensils and digging tools, for several people and children.

Shipston Rotary will urgently seek guidance from the headquarters of Rotary UK, in Alcester, or from the Rotary Club of Norcia-San Benedetto, which is quite close to the epicentre near Amatrice, as to how best to use the balance of the funds so generously donated.'

NIGEL WILLIS