A BUSINESSMAN has donated £5,000 to the Girl Guides whose camping equipment was stolen after reading about it on the front page of the Telegraph.
He wants to remain anonymous, and his generosity has delighted the 80 devastated youngsters.
As reported, leaders of the 1st Cleethorpes and 2nd Humberston Guides were forced to cancel a camping trip after thieves stole 24 tents, a number of gas cookers, and two gazebos worth £5,000 from their base in Sandringham Road, Cleethorpes.
The semi-retired businessman, from Healing, contacted the newspaper after reading about the theft.
He said: "They might think I am a crackpot. Maybe I am, but Father Christmas does exist and he has come early."
"I want to replace everything because I am absolutely livid about what has happened.
"If I can put a smile back on these kids' faces, then it will make my day.
"I thought it was deplorable and thought I had to do something. Maybe we could all go shopping. It would be good to get on the internet and get all the goods they need."
It is one of many donations the group has received since the incident was reported at the weekend.
Girl Guides divisional commissioner Allison Wood was "blown away" by the generosity shown by the community.
Breaking the news of the £5,000 offer, she said: "Wow, I can't believe it! I would never have thought that in my life. I don't know what to say. I am gob- smacked."
She said her phone had been inundated with offers of cookers, tents and cash.
"There is a very generous group of people in the community," she said.
"It flies in the face of people who have no morals whatsoever.
"It shows there are some great people out there.
"Words are not enough to say thank you. I am blown away."
Another anonymous donor came to the Grimsby Telegraph offices first thing yesterday morning to hand over £100 in cash.
The former scout leader said he was incensed when he read the front page story on Saturday.
"What the thieves are going to do with the gear I do not know," he said. "But I want to give them £100 and hope that others will follow my example and help them get new camping equipment.
"If I could have afford more then I would have given them more.
"I promised that if I had won the lottery at the weekend they would have had the whole £5,000 for the value of the stolen equipment.
"This is just an initial gesture in the hope that others will follow suit.
"I know what pleasure Guides and Scouts and Brownies get out of camping.
"Today, it is a far cry from my days on camp when we had to dig our own pits and find wood for a shelter. Nowadays the tents put themselves up.
"We used to have a lot of fun at Cherry Garth.
"I have done a lot of maintenance at Cherry Garth to help and I have been all over the country on camp.
"As a teenager, every weekend you would see me with a rucksack on my back heading off on camp."
THE GRIMSBY TELEGRAPH EDITOR SAYSFrom disaster and a loss of faith in the human race to delight and a complete restoration of that faith – all in the space of hours! Leaders of the Cleethorpes Division Guides are thrilled today, after being inundated with offers of help. These offers flooded in to the Telegraph as soon as we had run our front page story on Saturday, about the theft of £5,000 of their camping equipment. One anonymous donator has offered the full £5,000 needed to re-purchase the equipment with others from across the globe contacting us with kind donations. Indeed the cup of human kindness is simply spilling over on this one – and this proves the power of the local press. This is not to blow our own trumpet, but simply to say that community groups like this would not get the same level of publicity or help if there was not local media to raise their profile.Follow the editor on Twitter @michellelalor