A new Rotary club has donated more than £400 to BARB Search & Rescue, a Burnham-based life-saving charity.

Axbridge District Rotary, along with help from businesses in the area, raised £425 through a quiz night held at the town hall.

The group was formed late last year and is a sister organisation of the Burnham Rotary Club.

Club founder Ric Canham said: “We’re a small and very new group so to raise this much from our first event is terrific.

“Rotary is all about supporting communities and the Axbridge club is proud to be up and running and playing its part.

“Our future planned projects include maintaining road signs in the town, Christmas tree recycling and days out for underprivileged children.”

BARB runs hovercrafts and inshore rescue boats to save people stranded in the waters off the Somerset town throughout the year.

Ric continued: “I would like to mention the BARB volunteers do an amazing job.

“In April alone its members have been called out nine times to a variety of incidents ranging from rescues in the mud to taking part in searches for missing people.

“We would like to give many thanks to everyone who took part or contributed, also those from Axbridge businesses The Lamb, The Crown, Alvis Bros and PNT Electrical.”

Around 1,800 Rotary clubs are active across the UK and Ireland, which proudly boast 51,000 members collectively.

Each club raises tens of thousands of pounds for community projects and charities and people volunteer their time – supervising and organising community events, coordinating educational programmes and supporting businesses.

A BARB spokesman said: “We are hugely grateful to the club for this generous donation towards our life-saving work.”

“As a small, independent charity we rely 100 per cent on donations to keep running and so support, such as this, really does make a difference.

“Our thanks goes to everyone at the club and we wish them well for their future.”

The Axbridge group meets on the second and fourth Thursday of the month at the town’s Lamb restaurant from 7.30pm. It is open to anyone aged 18 and upwards.