MORE than 4,000 pairs of pants have been handed over to a charity which helps some of the poorest people on the planet by a local rotary club.

Greenock Rotary Club have given bagfuls of underwear to Scottish aid charity Smalls for All after another successful donation drive.

The group holds an annual appeal to collect fresh pairs of undergarments for needy adults and children in the UK and Africa.

READ MORE: 1st Gourock scouts set for once in a lifetime trip to Nepal

The club has been running the appeal since 2016 and has collected over 20,000 pairs of underwear for the charity since then.

The club’s international convenor Bill Dempster told the Tele he was delighted to be able to make the donation.

He said: “We’re getting back towards the numbers we used to get pre-Covid and hopefully we can build back up now.

“When this charity started out it was just to support people in Malawi, but the number of UK organisations that now go to Smalls for All requesting support is amazing.

“Even in areas like this they’re supporting schools and kids that can’t afford underwear.

“When we started collecting at first we went round the local churches and the guilds, we then went to the Boys’ Brigade, the Scouts and the Girls’ Brigades and it grew from there.

“There have also been a number of individual donations and we’ve had some from various other organisations such as Inverclyde Skywatchers and Inverclyde Homeless Unit.

“We’re very grateful to them all and we can’t thank them enough.

“Inverclyde punches above its weight when it comes to charitable donations and we see that through this.

“The generosity always amazes me.

“We really appreciate the support we’ve had and we’re looking forward to that support continuing in the coming years.

Claire Ramsay, who volunteers with Smalls for All, collected the piles of pants from the Rotary Club at the Tontine Hotel in Greenock. 

She praised the kindness of club members and local people.

She added: “These donations will go to supporting the homeless and children of secondary and primary school age through school uniform banks. They’ll go to projects in Africa and basically anyone who is in need.

“It’s absolutely amazing to see support we get from groups like the Rotary Club, I only found out when I arrived today that they had collected over 4,200 pairs of pants for me. That’s an incredible amount.

“This is the third time I’ve been down to Greenock for a collection and last time both my car and my husband’s car were full of donated underwear.

“We’re very grateful to the Rotary Club for what it’s done and I want to stress my support to them on behalf of Smalls for All.”