Compassionate people in Wharfedale pulled together to form an 'unbelievable Armada of aid' for the victims of Hurricane Mitch.

The kind-hearted contributors had to work fast - getting together aid such as tinned foods in only five days - as the goods had to be aboard an empty banana boat leaving for Honduras from Portsmouth by a fixed deadline.

Salem United Reformed Church, the collection point for Wharfedale, was almost overwhelmed by the amount of aid given.

Tinned goods and blankets came flooding in via a trail of cars, trailers and even potato lorries as people dropped what they were doing to respond to the disaster, which has left more than a million homeless and 9,000 dead.

Shoppers joined the appeal and in Safeways in Otley more than 20 trolleys were piled high with goods.

The response was so great that shelves containing key items such as rice, kidney beans and evaporated milk were temporarily emptied.

Describing reaction to the hurricane appeal as "heart-warming and almost unbelievable", the Reverend Mirella Moxon, minister of Salem URC, said: "Local schools, churches, organisations and individuals just pitched in and helped with no thought of self and the results speak for themselves.

"It really is a magnificent achievement that local people can be proud of."

Christian Aid later put on the Internet that the Leeds area supplied some ten per cent of the national total for Hurricane Mitch aid, with Wharfedale providing eight of the 80 tonnes from the whole Leeds area.

Asda loaned four 20-tonne trucks to transport the goods to the south coast from the central collection point of Oxford Place Methodist Church in Leeds.

The aid banana boat is set to arrive in Honduras on November 26.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.