AN amazing single donation of £5,000 yesterday has boosted the Daily Echo appeal for the Philippines.

The total raised between readers of the Daily Echo and its sister paper the Dorset Echo has now reached nearly £13,000 in just over a week.

The £5,000 donation arrived in the Bournemouth newsroom and is from an anonymous benefactor.

Toby Granville, Group Editor of the Daily Echo and Dorset Echo, said: “We have had a fantastic response to the appeal which we are running with the Disasters Emergency Committee.

“To receive a single cheque for £5,000 was absolutely amazing, although every single donation is important. Yet again our readers have come up trumps.”

Meanwhile, a Poole woman has spoken of her relief after talking to her son following the typhoon.

Valerie Old, 79, says that son, Timothy Lynes, and his wife, Cecil, have only the structure of their home left, following the devastation.

She said: “We didn’t know until we heard from him on Monday night. He texted his daughter, Kelly, to say that he was alive but that he and his wife had lost everything.

“You can’t imagine what it is like out there for them, but you see the images on the news and the devastation it has caused.

“He used to work for the International Red Cross travelling to different areas to help people, which is how he met his wife, Cecil, but he has since built a holiday resort called Blue Bay Park, which will now be all gone.”

To donate you can send or deliver a cheque made payable to the DEC Philippines Typhoon Appeal, to the Daily Echo at Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, BH2 6HH or at the Dolphin Centre, Poole. Or visit www.dec.org.uk or call 6060900. Donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.