Ledbury Rotary Club has inspired a health campaign that could prevent hundreds of amputations.

A government minister from the island of Tobago, in the West Indies, went on TV and radio last week and pledged to find the money for the campaign. He appeared alongside Ledbury Rotarians who were on a visit to the country.

Ledbury Rotary Club is twinned with Tobago Rotary Club and is helping with a foot care campaign linked to the high incidence of diabetes on the island.

Sufferers often develop gangrene in their feet, which must then be amputated. There are up to 40 amputations a year in Tobago, with patients only having a five-year life expectancy.

Ledbury Rotarians raised £5,000 to send two Canadian foot specialists to the island last November. Graham and Melanie Curryer returned in January to continue treating the most severe cases.

A 20-strong party from Ledbury, headed by Rotary president Andrew Perry, has just spent two weeks in Tobago. Graham Chick, of Pendock, a driving force behind the Diabetic Foot Care Project, said: "During a televised presentation and meeting with Tobago's secretary of state for health, she undertook to do all that Graham Curryer was recommending.

"The techniques the Curryers are teaching involve checking feet for injuries or sores and using simple surgery, practised by nurses, to cut away bad skin and give the good skin a chance to heal."