OFFERS of a ram for Bridestowe's popular Ram Roast have been flooding in following an appeal in the Okehampton Times last week.

Organisers feared their event on Saturday August 4 to raise funds for a new village hall might be a ramless roast because of the foot and mouth crisis.

For the last three years farmer David Heard has donated a ram for the occasion but his farm was one of the many struck by the disease.

Chairman of the Bridestowe Village Hall fundraising committee Janet Wilkins said no sooner had the newspaper come out last Thursday when the phone started ringing.

'The first call was from Ivor Pellow from Sourton and then I had another three offers within the space of a couple of days,' she said. 'We have taken up Ivor's offer and Smales of Hatherleigh are slaughtering the ram free of charge.

'We are absolutely delighted by the response. I want to say a big thank you to everybody who rang in and to David Heard for supplying us with a ram for the last three years.'

The Ram Roast helps to swell the coffers of the village hall fund by about £1,000 each year.