A WORLD record attempt carried out at an agricultural show last summer has inspired volunteers to gather as many welly boots as possible to donate to refugees across the world.

From world record attempts to helping refugees across the world, these wellies have been on quite a journey.

A team of volunteers from across Cornwall have collected around 400 pairs of wellies recently, which will be donated to refugees in France, Greece and Iraq.

Launceston volunteer, Rob Butler, who organised the event, said it was following Holsworthy Show’s ‘welly wang’ world record attempt last summer that inspired the collection.

“It’s quite a funny story — basically Holsworthy Agricultural Show had about 800 pairs of wellies donated to them for a world record event. I believe it was throwing the most amount of wellies in the air.

“After the event, the wellies were taken in by Mr and Mrs Ham from Launceston Rotary Club. They sold some to raise funds for Launceston Rotary Club, and because of the huge amount, about a month ago they contacted Bill Glen from Launceston Refugee Support Group and asked him if he knew of any charities that might be interested in about 400 pairs of wellies. This then led to Bill contacting me.”

Rob liaised with various charities he works alongside within Cornwall, who were more than happy to take the wellies. Rob put out a shout for volunteers on various Facebook pages, which led to the event on Saturday, April 6.

From 1pm onwards, eleven volunteers sorted through the wellies, with people coming from as far as Plymouth, Liskeard, Wadebridge and Penzance to help out.

“We put them in the correct sizes and boxed them up, now their journey continues! Some will be shipped by Open Hearts Open Borders to the island of Lesvos in Greece to their partner on the ground, Attika. Some will be shipped by One and All Aid to Iraq to their partner on the ground, Yezidi Emergency Support. Myself at Mobile Refugee Support will be taking some to France.

“A huge thanks goes to the Holsworthy Show for this donation, and to Mr and Mrs Ham from Cornish Natural Spring Water. All of this was done on their premises with boxes and parcel tape supplied by them, saving all of the charity’s money, so really kind.”