More than £500 has been raised and sofas, chest of drawers and clothes donated to a 71 year-old pensioner after a devastating house fire on Thursday night.

Dennis Issory lost everything in the blaze, yet just hours after the Wimbledon Guardian reported his plight on its website, donations of cash and furniture, even a skip, came flooding in from across south west London.

From Friday: Urgent plea for help from neighbours after house fire destroys elderly man's home

The community has pulled together for an over-whelmed Mr Issory, a retired psychiatric nurse, who said he could not believe so many people had offered to help him.

His next door neighbour Naomi Hardman contacted the Wimbledon Guardian to ask for advice the day after the fire.

From Friday: Cash, wardrobes and sofa beds all donated today by caring community as pensioner left homeless by house fire

Wimbledon Times:

Gutted: The house in De'Arn Gardens, Mitcham

Since then said she has had 120 people from Mitcham, Wimbledon and as far away as Crystal Palace coming forward to drop off furniture, give cash and offer their time to help.

But there is more work to be done.

Miss Hardman said they needed carpenters, electricians, plasterers or decorators to come forward to help in the clean-up operation.

Speaking on Tuesday, softly-spoken Mr Issory said: “I am getting better.

“I find it hard to cope.

“Naomi has been wonderful. She has done everything for me.

“I feel helpless.

“I can’t believe so many people are willing to help me."

The pensioner popped out to go shopping in Tooting on Thursday evening and by the time he got back an hour later, his terraced home was gutted by fire.

He arrived home to find 20 fire fighters tackling the blaze at his De’Arn Gardens Home in Mitcham where he has lived for 22 years with his nephew and his nephew’s girlfriend.

Members of the public have called and emailed the Wimbledon Guardian every day since with offers of sofa beds, wardrobes, chairs, tables as well as cash and man-power to help out the divorced pensioner who did not have home insurance.

Miss Hardman said Mr Issory was sleeping on a donated inflatable bed in the front room of the blackened house and was getting up early every day to begin scraping the walls and cleaning up.

She said: “It is really really nice to know that you can rely on the community.

“Before this happened I had never done anything like it.

“To see how much support we have got it lovely.

“Thank you to the Wimbledon Guardian for all your hard work.”

Four fire engines and 20 firefighters and officers from Mitcham, Wimbledon, Norbury and Purley fire stations attended and brought the fire under control by 7.37pm on Thursday, May 14.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it is thought the fire began after an electrical fault in a computer workstation.

Donate to the fund on the website http://www.gofundme.com/uvxrfg Contact the Wimbledon Guardian newsdesk on 020 8722 6336 to help.