PEOPLE of all ages in and around Sedgefield have rallied round to help refugees and asylum seekers at home and abroad.

Church members, Beavers and school pupils have donated food, money, clothes and household equipment in a bid to improve the lives of those in need.

“Despite all the social challenges resulting from major job losses in the North-East recently, it’s clear that local people are determined to help those less fortunate than themselves,” said the Rev Michael Thompson, of the Parish of the Upper Skerne in Trimdon.

About 50 bags - enough to fill the back of a motorhome - have been donated, including a number during an advent service at St Alban's Church, Trimdon Grange, on Sunday (November 29).

Everything from sleeping bags to frying pans were handed in for the Methodist Asylum Project, in Middlesbrough, and a collection for Christian Aid Refugee Appeal raised more than £200.

Fundraising efforts have come after an appeal from the Bishop of Durham and church leaders in the North-East.

Local appeal coordinator Michael King, said: “Congregations in each of the churches in the parish of the Upper Skerne have responded magnificently.”

Sedgefield Beavers presented gifts of food and clothing on a visit to St Edmund's Church, in the town, and pupils at St Michael’s C of E School, in Bishop Middleham, made a donation of clothing.

St Edmund’s Church-goers are now hard at work stocking shoebox hampers which will be distributed by Justice First, in Stockton, an agency that supports asylum seekers and refugees living in the Tees Valley.