An Australian themed restaurant in Saundersfoot has raised a magnificent £4,530 to show support for those affected by the bushfire crisis down under after receiving an ‘overwhelming’ response to a recent charity fundraiser.

The Kookaba, located on the seaside village’s High Street, hosted a charity night last month to raise funds for the Australian bushfire crisis, and continued the fundraising afterwards.

“Over the past few weeks since our charity evening we have continued to accept many generous donations from people far and wide but we can now reveal that we have raised a grand total of £4,530!” said restaurant manager, Faye Hilling.

The money raised has been divided accordingly between the two charities WIRES and the Australian Red Cross.

“We would like to thank absolutely everyone who supported us leading up to and on the evening; it’s been a wonderful thing to feel the generosity and support of other local businesses,” continued Faye.

“It has also been overwhelming to experience first hand the kindness of all those who went above and beyond on the evening including the staff, whom we are very proud of, as well as all those who ‘dug deep’, offered to help out, sung on the evening, donated extra furniture and music equipment or bought tickets.

“We all had a wonderful evening and were blown away by everyone’s support for our event. Daisy Lloyd won our name the koala competition. We had performances from Morgan Evans and Jack Sutton, and Butch held our raffle and also sung.

“The very talented Harry Sutton also designed a uniform for us for the evening. We’re very proud of all the staff - Sarah, Shay, Sharon, Ele, Kyra, Holly, Will and Lee.

“On a personal note I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the most generous guy we know, The Kookaba owner Jonny, without whom we would never have been able to raise this incredible amount.

“Ultimately, we all had a wonderful evening but at the end of the day it was about more than money, more than us and more than having a good time.

“It was about the people and animals of Australia and we hope this contribution and all our love finds its way to those who need it, by way of the Australian Red Cross,” added Faye.