Kind-hearted Essex people have been doing their bit to help earthquake victims in China.

Youngsters at Colchester High School in Wellesley Road, joined Ting Kang, a member of the learning support department, who also teaches Chinese, to sell goods such as sweets, cakes, chopsticks and keyrings to raise money for the Earthquake Appeal.

In three days they collected £513, and today and tomorrow they will again be selling the products during morning and lunchbreaks, and hope to raise hundreds of pounds more.

School registrar Tracy Brown said: "Because of the large Chinese community in Colchester, everyone felt that they needed to do something."

Meanwhile, a former Lawford primary school pupil has raised more than £15,000 for victims of the earthquake.

Dean Smith, who previously lived with his parents in Merivale Road, Lawford, now teaches English at Shanxi university, 800km away from the epicentre of the earthquake in Wenchuan.

He said: "I had the idea on Thursday evening - I was watching the news on Chinese state television.

"My girlfriend was crying seeing all these children that had been buried under their school.

"I myself felt the quake - we evacuated our university buildings and didn't realise at the time how serious it was."

Mr Smith, 42, said he wanted to make a difference and help the earthquake victims - so he decided to organise a fundraising event.

He added: "On Friday afternoon I went to the Red Cross in Linfen, the city where I teach, there were about ten people from Sichuan there.

"They were desperate to get home to see if their families were alive - I gave them all the money I had and told them to use it to try to get home."

In total, 212,000 Chinese yuan was raised, which is equivalent to £15,200.

Mr Smith added: "I feel very proud to have been part of this event.

Mr Smith's mother, Sylvia Starling, who lives in Lawford, said her son had worked really hard to raise money for the quake victims.

"We are so proud of what he has done."

Clacton Lions Club is gathering donations to send to China in the wake of the earthquake, which has killed thousands of people.

The club's international arm has already given about £775,000 to aid relief efforts in the Asian country.

  • If you would like to help, send a cheque made payable to "Lions Club of Clacton on Sea No2 Account" and send to Adrian M Robinson, 2 Albany Gardens East, Clacton, CO15 6HW.