Fleetwood helped tsunami rebuild

In a combined effort involving Fleetwood Rotary Club, the town’s businesses and members of the public, an incredible £25,000 was raised to help with the relief fund.

The tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 affected some 14 countries along a 600 mile fracture, killing up to 280,000 people and devastating many coastal communities.

Members of Fleetwood Rotary recently returned to a number of fishing villages in Sri Lanka which were decimated by the disaster.

They were able to see exactly how the Fleetwood effort has helped.

The assistance contributed to the building of a number of houses in the village of Panadura in the south Sri Lanka, and provided funds for the assistance in the building of seven new fishing boats and the Buddhist Temple in Matara, another southern coastal fishing village.

A plaque was erected to commemorate the help given – and during the recent visit the Rotary members gave free pens to local children, met families and distributed packs of Fishermen’s Friends kindly donated by the Lofthouse company.

Gordon Oates, secretary of Fleetwood Rotary Club said: “We had a most wonderful time and were delighted to meet people in the communities our town supported after the tsunami. Once again it shows how Fleetwood people’s generosity, and our willingness to help fellow fishing communities makes our town known worldwide.”