AN ANONYMOUS donor sent £600 in cash to a volunteer group after reading about their struggle against arson attacks in the Oxford Mail's sister paper the Witney Gazette .

The Witney Woodland Volunteers have been developing Deer Park Wood since 2010, but their work has been repeatedly vandalised.

In the latest attack vandals took more than 50 log seats and burnt them in a massive bonfire on July 30.

On Thursday the volunteers were sat at a committee meeting when chairman Terry Ewart opened an inconspicuous white envelope sent to the group.

In it was £600 in crisp £50 notes.

Mr Ewart said: “It’s an amazingly good feeling. It’s nice that somebody can see we do this not just for conservation and wildlife, but for the whole community.”

The money was accompanied by a letter which read: “I was sorry to read in the Witney Gazette of the damage done to your logs and enclose £600 to get the logs replaced plus labour. Don’t be disheartened, you’re doing a marvellous job.”

It was signed ‘A local well wisher’, and the postmark on the envelope was Swindon.

Mr Ewart added: “We are very, very grateful because we are currently about to start another major project refurbishing the north entrance, and the last thing we needed was this uncertainty.”