Ashby Rotary Club has donated money to four charities to help with their work.

Ashby Food Bank, Aquabox and Shelterbox for assistance to families in disaster-hit countries worldwide, and to a Rotary appeal to send toys to Ukraine.

A total of £805 was raised at a garden party generously hosted by Rotarian Richard and Mrs Jenni Davies. 

Of this, £600 was sent to Aquabox, while £205, plus £200 from the Club's charity account was donated to the Ashby Food Bank to buy Christmas presents for local children.

The Ashby Club recently received an appeal from another Rotary Club to support its initiative of sending children's toys to Ukraine. 

Ashby Rotary donated £250 in support and several thousand toys have now arrived in Ukraine in time for Christmas distribution.

Aquaboxes are of two types: each contains either a family filter or a community filter. The first filters one litre of water a minute while the community one filters six litres of water in the same time. So far 125,000 water filters have been dispatched to disaster areas and conflict zones around the world including Gaza.

The Club had also received appeals from its Rotary District for donations to the Morocco earthquake and the floods in Libya. 

It decided that the most appropriate response was to buy two Shelterboxes at a cost of £1,200. 

The boxes contain essentials for displaced families such as tents, tools, kitchen sets, solar lights, mosquito nets, water carriers and blankets.

Some of the money sent to these charities was drawn from the Club's charity account made up from money donated by the local community.

A spokesman said: "The club is most grateful for the support that we always receive from Ashby people. 

"Before Christmas, Santa toured the area on our Rotary sleighs and local people were as generous as they always are."