Pig out on pork to plump up cash

The bizarre fund-raising event is being held at The Red Hart, Kington, near Inkberrow, and was the idea of a group of regulars at the pub.

The contest will see four teams - one of pub regulars, one of young farmers and two others from Worcester and Inkberrow - each with five people, race to eat the cooked meat.

Customers can then place bets on everything from who will finish fastest to which team will be first to go to the toilet.

All the competition entry fees and money from the bets will then be donated to help the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami, which devastated Asia and left more than 150,000 people dead.

"We try to do a charity evening every other month but this is the first time we have tried anything like a sausage eating contest," said manager Darren Hales.

"We usually donate to local charities but this has been so huge we wanted to do what we can. Everyone is just trying to do their bit."

The pub expects to cram 150 people into the bar area and is also hoping to have a full restaurant for the event, which starts at 8pm on Wednesday, January 19.

Owners Jane and Barr Pritchard have already collected more than £100 through charity pots in the pub, and they are aiming for more than £500 after the evening.

The pub will use plain pork sausages, which are being donated by Simon Taylor, of Fladbury Butchers, and Keith Dunn, from Dunn's Catering Butchers, in Droitwich.

"We did toy with the idea of adding a few spicy sausages but decided against it," said Mr Hales.

"The evening has been advertised on a blackboard in the pub and we have had a great response so far. Hopefully, it should be a great deal of fun, as well as helping raise money."

Escaped couple raise £1,000 for victims of disaster

A COUPLE who left Sri Lanka hours before the tsunami hit the island held a prize draw and a garage sale, raising more than £1,100 for victims of the natural disaster.

Eva Brunson and her husband Kevin held the jamboree on Sunday, January 2, at their home in Hallow Road, St John's, Worcester.

"In just two hours we raised £1,130 which we'll give to the Disasters Emergency Committee," said Mrs Brunson.

"Loads and loads of companies were really generous, which made the prize draw a great success. I would just like to thank everyone who came along.

"We don't know how many people came - there were a lot from all over Worcester, but most came from the Hallow Road area and St John's."

The couple were on one of the last flights from Sri Lanka before the disaster struck, following a two-week holiday to celebrate Mrs Brunson's 40th birthday.

The hotel where they were staying - the Hotel Triton, near the port town of Galle - was badly damaged by the tsunami.

Generous region

GENEROUS donors in the West Midlands have pledged almost £10m to the Asian tsunami appeal.

According to statistics from The Disasters Emergency Committee, a total of £9.9m has been given by people in the West Midlands, including Worcestershire, the second highest region in the country.

The total fund now stands at well over £76m and is on course to top £100m.

Brendan Gormley, Disasters Emergency Committee Chief Executive, said: "We are so grateful to everyone who has donated and worked to raise money for the DEC in cities, towns and villages across the UK.

"Our member agencies now have teams on the ground working to deliver urgent food and medical supplies and to alleviate the immediate effects of the disaster."

Grand gesture

IT will be a case of hair today - gone tomorrow for BBC Hereford and Worcester star Dave Bradley, who will be having his moustache chopped off tonight in aid of the tsunami appeal.

Since Bradders' announced his intentions to whisk off his whiskers on last Friday's show, generous listeners have pledged more than £20,000 - making it the radio station's biggest ever fund-raising effort.

The presenter will have his top lip shaved in front of thousands at half-time during this evening's Worcester Rugby Club European clash with Italian side, Leonesse.

Death toll estimated to be 440

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has doubled estimates of the British tsunami death toll to a possible 440.

"The number of confirmed British fatalities in the whole region is now 49. This includes three in the Maldives and 10 in Sri Lanka," he said. "In addition, 391 are now listed by the Metropolitan Police as likely, or very likely, to have been involved as victims."

Mr Straw has been visiting the devastated tourist areas of Thailand, including Patong beach where he met four British survivors. He had previously attended an emergency summit in the Indonesian capital Jakarta to decide how £2.2bn of international aid can be best used.

However, last night the West London coroner Alison Thompson formally named 15 people killed in the tsunami disaster and opened inquests into their deaths.

It has also been suggested that police have drawn up a list of 4,000 missing Britons, which has not been publicly released.

Log on to donate to Asia fund

INSPIRED by the outpouring of public support for the Asian tsunami survivors, Oxfam has launched an emergency website in a bid to cope with donations.

The news comes after the Evening News reported on Wednesday that Oxfam shops in Worcestershire revealed they might have to close temporarily so staff could deal with the overwhelming number of donations being made to the appeal.

Now Oxfam has launched the website www.oxfamunwrapped.

com - giving the public an alternative way to help survivors of the Asian tsunami.

It catalogues 10 items, costing between £45 to £100,000, all of which are commonly used in Oxfam's emergency response work.

The choice ranges from simple yet essential items to large objects, including:

n Six mosquito nets to reduce the spread of malaria - £45

n Boats to aid recovery - £90

n A 45,000 litre water tank to provide 3,000 people with clean water for a day - £2,160

n A planeload of emergency drinking water and sanitation systems for homeless families - £100,000

Oxfam is encouraging groups collecting for the aid effort - whether they're schools, companies, sports teams or just friends who want to make a difference - to visit the site and select a target item to purchase.

Chris Coe, the charity's trading director, said: "With the introduction of this emergency version of our website we are giving groups of fund-raisers the opportunity to show their support by collecting on a larger scale for items which will make an immediate difference to the millions affected by disasters.

"The British public has been greatly moved by the recent events in Asia and wants to be able to help overcome such large scale suffering with a suitably large scale response.

"This website provides the means for them to do so."

Graeme opted to baldly go...

As Sampson could tell you, losing your long , flowing locks is a traumatic experience - but it's even more nerve-wracking when your boss is doing the cutting.

But Graeme Norton, an engineer at SPX Cooling Technologies in Gregory's Bank, Barbourne, Worcester, was prepared to submit to the clippers for the sake of the tsunami victims.

Mr Norton's head was shaved yesterday by MD Donald Murray who charged his staff to watch, and raised £175.

The company, which has associate companies in some of the affected countries, has already donated £1,000 to the tsunami fund.