A thousand prosthetic legs will be heading to Africa in time for Christmas thanks to the phenomenal success of a project involving Falmouth and Penryn volunteers.

Legs4Africa was only set up in April this year, but resulted in 500 unwanted prosthetic legs being driven 4,000 miles to a hospital in The Gambia in an old minibus, that was then also donated.

Although, the legs cannot be reused in this country or in Europe, due to strict EU laws, there are no such restrictions in Africa where doctors can adapt the legs to help amputees walk again.

Although prosthetics in The Gambia are available, they cost the equivalent of a year’s living wage, making them accessible only to the very elite.

The tiny charity, made up of just six friends, next set its sights on a bigger target – to collect 1,000 more, which effectively eliminates the need for prosthetics in that country.

Having now reached that total, some of the team will be heading over to deliver them in the next couple of weeks.

Among the group accompanying the delivery will be Phil Tunstall, one of the project’s co-ordinators, from Longdowns.

He said: “The charity started off because a friend of mine went travelling around Gambia and made friends with a family where the father was an amputee. My friend took his leg measurements with the intention of getting him a leg.”

The group of friends started a “crowd funder” campaign to raise the money, but during that process an NHS doctor said he could simply adapt an old one that would be much cheaper – and the charity grew from there.

“It’s the perfect recycling project,” said Phil. “It’s quite rewarding seeing people walking again that really thought they never would be able to.”

While over in The Gambia this time, the team hopes to visit nearby countries such as Mali and Ghana to assess the possibility of broadening their reach, should the medical expertise be available.

Founded by Tom Williams from Leicester, where the legs are stored due its central location, the charity also involves Meg Clarke and Tim Ellis from Penryn, and Jerome Twell from Falmouth.

It hopes to now branch out into other mobility equipment such as wheelchairs, crutches and frames – plus collect 2,000 legs by the end of 2015.

The group is looking for donations of both equipment and money to be made via the new Made Open pledge website that launched in Penryn yesterday (Tuesday).

They also hope more volunteers will come forward to collect prosthetics from hospitals and manage the charity’s social media, to raise awareness further.

For more details visit legs4africa.org or the Facebook page Legs4Africa.