A week of donations has helped raise more than £1,600 to keep lives safe at sea.

The Loughton branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution raised funds last week through a series of supermarket, street, school and house to house collections.

The money will go towards maintaining lifeboats, purchasing up to date equipment and providing safety wear for volunteers.

RNLI Branch Chairman, Mike Evans said: “The recent annual Lifeboat Week collection in Loughton and district raised a total of £1677.78 for the RNLI despite a shortage of volunteers to assist with the collection.

“We are most grateful to Morrisons Supermarket in Loughton for again allowing us a two day collection which raised £850 of the total. 

“Our grateful thanks also go out to the small band of collectors and to the public for their generous support."