A BOOK shop in Beaminster has started a campaign to raise £75,000 to aid children displaced by the war in Ukraine.

Little Toller Books is one of two independent UK publishers that have come together to provide backpacks containing a selection of books, head torches, drinking bottles, notebooks, colouring pencils and other much-needed items.

Gracie Cooper, who runs Little Toller Books in Beaminster, and Kevin Duffy, who runs Bluemoose Books, in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, are behind Packed with Hope - an initiative that aims to bring a little comfort and escape for the displaced children fleeing Ukraine.

Ms Cooper said: "We simply cannot stand back and watch.

"My children are constantly asking: 'could this happen to us?'

"The uprooting of families is heartbreaking, and we have to be able to help in some way."

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Coordinated from Little Toller's offices and bookshop in Church Street, a JustGiving campaign had began to raise £75,000 to support the purchase of items and the distribution of 10,000 filled rucksacks from a warehouse in Dorset.

Little Toller Books and Bluemoose aim to provide at least 30,000 books and are inviting publishers, bookshops and authors to donate picture books and paperbacks for children of different ages.

All books must be accessible to children for whom English is not their first language.

Gracie Cooper is mobilising a volunteer network in Dorset to help source, sort, pack and distribute the bags.

She said: "Alongside the books, we also need all sorts of other items, for both comfort and necessity, such as colouring books, notepads, head torches, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, puzzles, bags of marbles, insulated water bottles, warm hats, gloves and socks, pencil cases, stationary, hot-water bottles.

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"We also need rucksacks so volunteers can pack and send them overland to the countries bordering Ukraine, such as Poland or Romania."

The JustGiving campaign aims to raise funds to cover basic costs of warehousing and transportation, alongside items that are not donated so every bag can be packed full of useful and lovely things.

Ms Cooper added: "We know what we're doing is only the slightest of gestures, but what if something in that bag puts a smile on someone's face? What if a six-year-old could fall asleep listening to a bedtime story? What if a thirteen-year-old could escape into a story? We're sure that our friends in the publishing world will be supportive."

Little Toller Books has thanked the Poundbury Cancer Institute in Dorset for lending their warehouse to run the project.

To donate to the Packed with Hope campaign, visit: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/packedwithhopecampaign

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