Zoe at Milton Lilbourne bring and buy sale, (15204/1)YOUNG people in Wiltshire have been leading the way in generous efforts to raise money and materials to help the thousands of people left with nothing after the Asian tsunami disaster.

Becky Pearce and Benetia Wright, both 13 and pupils at Devizes School, fasted for 36 hours to raise money for the appeal. The girls did not eat food although they did drink. They did it because they wanted to appreciate how the victims of the earthquake might have felt if they were without food for a significant length of time. The girls hope to have raised around £300 in sponsorship.

One thousand pounds has been raised in Winterbourne Monkton for the disaster fund.

A cheese and wine party on January 14 was supported by 74 adults and children. A raffle and quiz sheet raised some £300 and ticket sales and donations raised a further £700.

A total of £1,000 has paid into the Disasters Emergency Committee for tsunami relief work.

The winners of the testing quiz were the Blackmore family who received a generously donated prize of £30.

Among the youngest to use their physical strength to raise cash were a trio of youngsters from All Cannings School near Devizes.

Ten-year-old Isobel Humbey and her friend Amy Palmer, 11, got the permission of head teacher Julia Roberts to run around the perimeter of the school playing field to raise over £250 for the appeal. On Saturday morning Isobel did 15 laps of the quarter-mile circuit while Amy did 12 laps. Amy's nine-year-old sister April also joined in and did ten laps.

The school also raised £237 for the appeal in their "dress down" day the day before.

Youngsters Jemma Cottrell and Danielle Hartley took the plunge and raised almost £560 for the appeal.

Jemma, ten, and her cousin Danielle, 11, swam 50 lengths of the pool at Devizes Leisure Centre on Sunday.

The sponsored swim was the idea of Jemma, of Broadleas Park, and the two of them were pleased to raise so much for the appeal.

Danielle, a keen swimmer, lives in Kemp Close, Devizes, and both girls are pupils at St Joseph's RC Primary School in Devizes.

The girls' parents, siblings and cousins were by the pool to cheer them on.

Jemma's mother, Caroline Cottrell, said: "We are all proud of Jemma and Danielle. They completed the 50 lengths in just under 50 minutes. They wanted to finish in an hour and so were delighted to finish quicker than that.

"Jemma told me and her dad that she wanted to raise money for the children who were left orphaned by the earthquake.

"She rang the leisure centre to organise it. The centre offered them a free swim on a Wednesday evening but that was too late for them so the centre agreed to them doing it during a public session on Sunday.

"I think Jemma and Danielle have done fantastically well and people who have already donated money to the appeal were only too happy to sponsor them."

Mrs Cottrell said she would like to thank everyone who sponsored the girls and particularly Jim Lynch, landlord of The Crown OC Bar in New Park Street, who contributed a total of £100.

Meanwhile, the Cuddles and Bubbles collection of soft toys and soap is going great guns at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in St Joseph's Place, Devizes.

Based on the observation from tsunami survivor Adrian Shaw, whose parents Alan and Pat live in Devizes, that what he needed after escaping from the mighty wave was a bar of soap and a teddy to cuddle, the campaign seeks to send these items as luxuries to the hard-pressed communities in the stricken countries around the Indian ocean. So far, over 3,000 teddy bears and bars of soap have been sent off.

The organisers are setting up a cabaret supper at Care Rowde on Saturday February 12, from 6.30pm, where entertainment will be provided by singers Paula Boyagis and Barbara Gompels and actor/comedian Lewis Cowen.

There will also be an auction of promises. Tickets, £10 each or £20 for a family ticket, are available by ringing (01380) 730284.

The head girl at the Mill School in Potterne has spearheaded an effort to collect supplies for people affected by the disaster.

Katy Yates, ten, from Highlands, Potterne, wrote to the independent preparatory school's deputy head, Sylvia Parry, to appeal for staff help in organising the collection.

Katy wrote: "I would like to bring up the topic of the Asian tsunami and how the people have suffered by losing their loved ones or becoming homeless in this terrible natural disaster, which killed over 100,000 in a few minutes."

She said that the plight of the survivors, millions of whom have been left homeless in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, had touched the hearts of people in this country.

She said she wanted to help by lending her efforts and those of other pupils at the school to collecting contributions for the Wiltshire Mercy Appeal, which is filling a hangar at the former Wroughton airfield with items donated by people from all over the country.

Katy appealed for tents, sleeping bags, blankets, bottled water, tinned food, dried food, clothes and kitchen supplies.

She recruited the help of her mother, Beverley, who gladly filled the back of her MPV and made seven journeys to Wroughton.

Mrs Yates said: "I am really proud of her. This was all her idea. She wrote to Mrs Parry and organised the other pupils to collect the stuff from home. The response from the other parents was amazing."