Generous Keighley residents have contributed a huge quantity of urgently-needed aid for Syrian refugees.

The collection was arranged by the Utley based Al-Hikmah project, with hundreds of boxes of vital provision due to start being dispatched to the conflict zone this weekend. Collection co-ordinator, Khurm Mezhar, said donated items included tinned food, clothes, blankets and medical supplies.

These are being sent out to the Keep Syria Warm appeal, to help some of the millions of people who have been made destitute by the bloody civil war. Fighting, which began in 2011, has so far claimed more than 100,000 lives and left more than eight million people displaced.

Mr Mezhar said young people had also played a key role in generating the massive wave of donations, adding aid supplies had been collected in only a fortnight. He said: “I didn’t expect us to get this much, and I’m very pleased with how generous the people of Keighley have been.

“We’ve also had people donating from Bradford, Skipton and even Scotland.”

Pictured are some of the volunteers in Keighley.