TWO RAFFLES and a silent auction launched by a teacher at St Edmund’s School in Hindhead in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine appeal have become an overnight sensation – raising more than £2,500 within days of their launch and attracting donations from across the UK.

Jen Darrington, the LAMDA co-ordinator and form 3-5 drama teacher at St Edmund’s, enlisted the help of friends and local businesses to raise as much as they could to help those desperately in need in Ukraine. And she says she has been “overwhelmed by the generosity of time, items, expertise and above all, the human spirit”.

Jen continued: “We’ve all seen the images on the news of mothers carrying their children, of fathers kissing their loved ones goodbye, not knowing when or if they will ever see them again.

“We know that children have been separated from their parents and millions of displaced people are without a roof over their heads, food, safe water, electricity or medical supplies.

“We watch on, feeling helpless. But we are not. We can all help, in some way. We can all do something.”

Jen has amassed more than 50 raffle items worth more than £3,000.

The raffles – a ‘national’ and a ‘local’ – offer everything from a Rosie boilersuit worth £250 to a month’s 1:1 G Fit personal training worth £220 and a wardrobe declutter, body shape and colour analysis by Liv Styler worth £200.

Tickets for each cost £10.

There are also three lots to bid for in a silent auction: golf for four at Old Thorns, an ultimate spa experience for two, and a cocktail masterclass for four.

The raffle and auction opened on Thursday last week and close at 6pm on Sunday, April 10.