PEOPLE dug deep and helped to raise more than £10,000 to help the families of the victims of the Morecambe Bay cockle disaster.

A total of £10,400 was collected for the Morecambe Bay Victims Support Fund, which was launched by the North West Chinese Council following the disaster in February.

The cash was handed over to the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester and will be used to help the bereaved families and to give comfort' to the surviving Chinese cockle-pickers.

Chinese Consul General of Manchester, Gong JianZhong, expressed his appreciation of the North West Chinese Council's work.

He said the cash they had raised would go some way to providing comfort to the victims' families.

During the presentation, members of the Chinese consulate also vowed to put the protection and benefits of Chinese people at the top of their agenda.

After the Morecambe Bay tragedy, the North West Chinese Council set up the victims' support fund, but also rallied the help of the Health and Safety Executive, Liverpool Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and the North West & North Wales Sea Fishery Committee, to produce a Morecambe Bay Safety Check List and Tidal Data booklet.

The council has arranged an English teacher to give the survivors English lessons in the Ulverston area, close to where they stay, to help them integrate into the community.

l THE anniversary of the Morecambe Bay cocklers tragedy is to be marked by a fund-raising concert.

The Tong Xin Ren, or Joining Hearts, benefit concert is a night of live music and entertainment celebrating cultural diversity, which takes place at the Morecambe Dome tonight, Friday (February 4).

All proceeds from the event will go to the families of the 23 cockle pickers who lost their lives after becoming trapped by the tide at Hest Bank, last February.

A member of the family of one of the cockle pickers who died will speak at the event, which also features live music, Chinese food and a film set in China about the places where the cockle pickers originally came from.

The evening begins at 7.30pm. For details, call 01524-415842.