A WEST Devon photojournalist has returned home after distributing huge amounts of aid donated by local people to help displaced villagers in Bosnia living in the aftermath of civil war.

Ian Robinson from Sortridge shared with the Times his experience of leading a small convoy of Land Rovers to Bosnia Herzegovina and distributing aid to war-ravaged villages without electricity.

Ian also handed over the keys to a refurbished ex-MOD Land Rover to Livno-based mine clearance teams in response to their plea for help when he was there last year.

A total of around £6,000 has been raised by the Bosnian Land Rover Appeal. ?It?s taken a year to put this together, with a lot of begging that has brought forth help locally and nationally from individuals and business alike,? said Ian.

Last month, Ian collected donations, food and toiletries outside Safeway in Tavistock, to help the suffering elderly in Bosnia. ?Tavistock shoppers responded fabulously to our Safeway Saturday, donating much-needed quantities of food, toiletries and bedding,? said Ian. ?Shoppers amazed me, with some handing me an item or two, others filled a carrier with food or toiletries and one lady donated an entire trolley-load while another couple removed my suggestion list from the Land Rover windscreen and purchased everything on it,? he added.

Ian said: ?Four other Land Rovers from across the UK made up a convoy to carry this and other goods the 1,500 miles through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Croatia. We were armed with masses of paperwork and documentation but crossed every border without hitch on a three-day journey enhanced by spectacular autumn colours.

?Sadly, in Bosnia, the foliage is marred by the proliferation of wrecked dwellings that still scar the countryside, many unapproachable because of mines, and in Drvar, where we left children?s books from Tavistock?s YMCA shop, the shattered town buildings suggested the war was barely over. Further on, overshadowed by hills, Livno is not unlike Tavistock in size and appearance.

?I had tears in my eyes as I led our string of vehicles towards the early evening lights of the little market town.

?Our first day there was spent as guests of the Department of Civil Protection, men and women who work painstakingly to clear mines from farms, orchards and pastures for not much money. It was an unforgettable 54th birthday for me as I handed over the keys of our shiny blue Land Rover that matched the colour of the other three currently in service, donated by a German charity. Supervisor Davinko Brnic welcomed the extra vehicle, saying it will enable his clearance teams to use their worktime more efficiently.?

Ian said the Land Rover would also allow the mine clearance teams to overnight away at distant sites in summer using the vehicle tent that the charity also provided.

?We watched mine clearing demonstrations in a nearby village then, at a remote mountain site, a massive bang preceded detonation of an ordinance handed into police stations during a recent amnesty,? said Ian.

Ian said as he viewed safely from the windy hillside, a Dutch SFOR-NATO Stabilisation Force officer accompanying the group reminded everyone that two or three children a month are still being killed by landmines.

Ian said: ?Nearby were two graves, one of a 27-year-old soldier killed in action, the other, a father of five walking in the woods to pick wild flowers, blown up by a mine.

?The next day we spent distributing our aid to a string of hamlets along the valley around Livno.

?Many homes are still roofless from shelling and, in one such house, a man showed us his undamaged bathroom where he?d installed bunks as the warmest refuge from the harsh winter. Particularly welcome were our clockwork radios as many are still without electricity,? he said.

?One old man was very proud to show me the huge carrots and marrows grown from the vegetable seeds that I took out last year.?

On the third day, Ian was taken on a tour of mountain battlefields and front lines above the strategic town of Bugojno. ?We ascended past areas still mined near rebuilt homes and on to gravel tracks and the snowy treeline to view trenches and log bunkers. Shell cases littered the forest floor beneath tall firs which still bear mine warning signs,? he added. Coming down the group stopped to inspect holes in the road, dug out to hold mines below machine-gun lookouts.

Ian would like to thank everyone who generously contributed to the appeal, including groups like the Cornwall and Devon Land Rover Club, King?s Church, the Acoustic Cafe and businesses like Safeway, Waterways, and Superwinch who donated a winch for the vehicle and Tavistock Tyres who provided two spare wheels. Fuel for the trip to Bosnia was paid for by Matford Land Rover of Exeter.

And Ian added cheerfully: ?We still have enough cash in the account for two or three much-needed village cows and a chainsaw.?