MORE than £180 in cash and 300 items of food and toiletries were donated to help elderly people face the rigours of winter in Bosnia last Saturday.

The appeal for help was organised by Ian Robinson of Sortridge, who has raised £5,000 to purchase and refurbish an ex-army Land Rover to help with mine clearance work in Bosnia.

Mr Robinson took the Land Rover to Safeway in Tavistock last weekend, where he appealed to shoppers for donations to take with him.

He said he was ?staggered? by the response.

?The whole venture from start to finish has been a massive team effort ? without all the public contributions that we?ve received over recent months, we would not be able to make this journey ? thank you to everyone who has given,? he said.

Mr Robinson said blankets and duvets were donated in addition to food ? Safeway under manager Ian Dawes presented him with a voucher worth £40 and Tavistock Tyre and Exhaust supported the effort by donating tyres for the Land Rover.

He is due to drive the 1,500 miles to the Balkans this Saturday, part of a mini convoy of Land Rovers from other areas of the country taking aid to outlying villages.

Mr Robinson?s vehicle will be presented to a mine clearance team working in minefields around Livno, a market town about the size of Tavistock in the South West of Bosnia.