STAFF at a local shoe shop have been deluged by the response to their appeal for shoe boxes full of essential items, for refugees of war-torn Kosovo.

Wynsors in Boundary Road, St Helens, acted as a collection point for the boxes and in just two weeks a mountain of more than 12,500 boxes had been delivered to the shoe store.

Store manager Dennis Farrell told the Star: "The response was overwhelming and it's fantastic to know that everybody is pulling together to try and help the refugees.

"We've received boxes from as far afield as South Wales, North Wales and Macclesfield, as well as Liverpool. And the local response has been absolutely wonderful with boxes being donated by local schoolchildren, the council, townspeople and businesses."

In total, the number of boxes donated will fill four articulated lorries, and the first assignment is already on its way to Kosovo.

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