Ottery’s Scout Leader said after two Saturdays of frantic jumble activity this year’s giant sale was ‘one of the best yet’.

John Green said it would take a while to work out exactly how much money was raised, but was pleased with how the events went, after weeks of collecting, sorting and organising.

After picking up jumble from all over the town and outlying villages, Ottery Scouts divide it between three sale rooms in the Institute, the Old Boys School and at Coleridge Pre-School, spread over two weekends.

Ali Owen who helps oversee part of the operation, said people don’t realise just how much work goes into sifting through all the donations, and Scout Leader Bruce Harvey praised the ‘army of volunteers’ who man the stalls on the sale days.

He said: “We’re extremely grateful to everyone that helps out – especially to the ladies who keep us going on cups of hot tea and slices of cake.

“We’d also like to thank the public for supporting the event and for spending their hard-earned cash with us.”

This year the focus was on raising as much money as possible as the group tries to hit its £90,000 target to pay for rebuilding work at its Winters Lane headquarters.

Mr Green said: “We’ve currently raised £55,000, but we are still about £30,000 short or our target figure so every penny from the jumble is crucial.”