A HAPPIER Christmas is in store for distressed folk this year thanks a £2,600 donation from a mysterious foreign benefactor.

Through an extraordinary set of circumstances, Cleobury Mortimer will rec-eive the full proceeds of the sale of a 1928 Raleigh motorcycle at this year's International Class-ic Motorcycle Show in Stafford.

And it all stems from the gratitude of a European who spent a happy Christmas with an English family more than 50 years ago.

The machine was owned by the anonymous donor of Christmas presents to the Cleobury community, which started arriving nearly a decade ago.

But his name has never been revealed and most people in Cleobury have no idea about the gifts and how they came about.

This year's gift is a bonus because the Good Samaritan has retired and the annual cash presents he gave to boost the spirits of the bereaved and unfortunate were petering out.

However, two people who have met him and kept the secret for many years, have no doubt the benefactor will never lose his love for England and attachment to Cleo-bury.

One is motorcycle buff Jim Reynolds, who first met him in the late 1980s. The other is the lately retired Rev Robert Horsfield, who dealt with the gifts.

Revealing for the first time the history of the donations, Mr Reynolds said the foreigner came to England to learn engineering in an Austin workshop at Rubery.

He had told how his landlord could not have him over Christmas and how, being so far away from home, he would have a bleak time but for a workmate who made him welcome in his own home.

He had eventually become a successful motor dealer and wanted to give something back to Eng-land.

Since then hundreds of pounds worth of Christmas presents have brightened the lives of people struck by misfortune.