A group set up to help refugees in Calais just two weeks ago has had to stop taking donations after they were inundated with items.

Lucy Harvey and her friends Elizabeth Goatley, Jody Smeed Carrington, Stacey Barron and Adam Barron set up Medway Masses Doing Our Bit For The Refugees In Calais on Facebook.

The group now has more than 1,300 members and raised its target of £1,000 on their Just Giving page in just four days.

They have smashed their aim of filling two vans full of much needed items, such as warm clothing, camping equipment and toiletries.

Mother of three Mrs Harvey, 38, said: “We’ve had to ask people to stop donating at the moment we were just inundated with donations. The support has been overwhelming. There’s been a negative response to it online, but its not going to stop what we’re doing.

“We’ve had a surplus of stuff that we’ve been able to give to homeless charities. It has become a lot bigger than we expected it to.

“My cellar is full up, we have got a whole shed full of camping equipment and our dining room is half full with food.”

She added: “The weather is turning and it’s a miserable place to be. It’s only 70 miles away from us but people who have gone over there say its one of the worst refugee camps in the world.

"My cellar is full up, we have got a whole shed full of camping equipment and our dining room is half full with food" - Lucy Harvey

Mrs Barron, who runs Poco Loco, Chatham, posted on Facebook that in her house she had 122 toothbrushes, 86 tubes of toothpaste, 106 bars of soap, a carrier bag full of baby wipes, two carrier bags full of shower gel and another two full of shampoo.

The team have made up wash bags so they can be handed out straight away to the refugees.

They now have a contact in France and hope to go over in two weeks to deliver donations and help CalAid sort through their donations.

The response received praise in The Guardian where Amaka Opara wrote: “I am very proud of the way Medway, the place I have had the privilege of calling home since the age of 10, has reacted to the plight of refugees. As a young black person in Chatham, I have found it refreshingly diverse after living in Canterbury and Germany.”

For more information, visit Medway Masses on Facebook.