The Bury St Edmunds’ branch of building supplies firm Ridgeons is donating £1,000 worth of construction materials and building tools to help people on the Caribbean island of Barbuda rebuild homes in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

The company is sending out tarpaulins, nails, screws, hammers, saws, hand tools and tape measures after being contacted by Suffolk residents Alice Bolton and her mother Ruth, who have family and friends living in Barbuda and are helping with an appeal for the island.

Ridgeons’ donation is expected to be shipped next week and donated to Barbudans to help with essential reconstruction work at the storm-wrecked location.

Ridgeons director Hugh Guntrip said: “When Alice and Ruth asked for our help we were only too pleased to help.

“As a major timber and builders’ merchant, we are ideally positioned to contribute the vital supplies needed so people can start to rebuild the community and their lives.”