Parents and pupils of a school in Leonard Stanley hit by scammers have had their "faith in humanity restored" thanks to local businesses.

Leonard Stanley Primary School was left out of pocket after fraudsters used fake money at their annual fundraising fireworks display earlier in the month.

"It was a group of adults and children," explained Jo Byrne, who chairs the school's PTA.

"As well as the adults paying with fakes they used the children to come up with fake £20 notes to pay for drinks, food and glow items of very low value, about 50p to £1.

"One of the male young adults also verbally abused a young female volunteer."

This deceit meant the school lost £260 from the event. Money collected was meant to go towards new iPads for the school.

It has now got the funds back, however, after not one but two businesses offered donations, beginning with Keith and Helen Brown of Marsh Garage.

"We are very humbled and blown away by the generosity of Keith and his team, who on hearing of our misfortune regarding the fake money we had laundered at our event donated £260 to us," announced Jo to the rest of the community on Facebook.

"It has restored our faith in humanity after feeling sick to the stomach after an organised criminal gang stole from our charity.

"We would also like to thank those of you who have donated to us or have offered to. We have an amazing team of people at Leonard Stanley School, and we appreciate that we are very lucky to have such a supportive community."

Jo delivered a card to the garage with a thank you message from the school.

Stroud News and Journal:

"Your wonderful gesture is very much appreciated," reads the message from pupils.

But Marsh Garage was not the only business to lend a helping hand, with employment agency Wavelength Recruitment also donating £260.

"It’s such a fab school so anything we can do to help," said managing director Rachel Shipton.

Jo said the school is now investigating how it can bolster security at future events.