Generous donors have been praised after a community came together to deliver “mountains of black bin bags” filled with gifts for Afghan refugees.

St John’s Church in Palmers Green said that it “opened its doors immediately” after hearing the news in August of people in Afghanistan needing to flee the country and seek refuge in the UK.

The UK refuge scheme will see up to 20,000 people eligible to set up a new home, but the church feared that the majority would have left behind their belongings in Afghanistan as they escaped the country.

The church put a call for the community to donate clothing, shoes, toys and other essentials to help local refugees ease into life in the UK.

Within days, the parish centre was full and soon afterwards “mountains of black bin bags overflowed into the church”.

There were “multiple hundreds of boxes” which needed sorting and dispatching, and local estate agents and removal companies came together to help with the delivery – free of charge.

In a message thanking the community, the church said: “Very special thanks go to the volunteers who turned up to lend a hand with the mammoth challenge of sorting all the contributions.

“Some came for an hour, stayed for three, others turned up regularly until the work was done."

The church explained that their drivers had to go back and forth to the recycling centre and other drivers travelled great lengths to prepare the packed-up boxes.

A barbecue was held last Sunday (September 26) at the church to thank volunteers for their contributions.