Hundreds help tsunami aid effort

Five hundred volunteers turned up at Wroughton airfield in Wiltshire to help sort and load materials for the Asian tsunami relief appeal.

Aid arrived at the airfield from across Wiltshire and neighbouring counties.

Helpers unloaded cars, sorted donations, packed boxes and put everything on pallets ready to be taken to London and then flown to Sri Lanka.

Swindon's mayor, councillor Peter Stoddar, acknowledged the work of the volunteers and lent a hand.

"More volunteers are needed each day for the foreseeable future between 0900 and 1700 GMT at C1 Hanger on the airfield," said Jacky Smith, the secretary of the Wiltshire Mercy Appeal.