A RARE copy of the first Beatles LP has sold for £1,300, after being donated to Oxfam’s Bold Street branch.

The album – one of the first 300 copies of Please Please Me – was found among bags of donations given in for the Haiti appeal.

After being identified as valuable by volunteers, it was put on Ebay and sold to a collector in Hampshire for over £1,300.

Gerard O'Flannigan, manager of the Oxfam shop, says: "We found the album in a bag with other items. We’ve been so busy with customers coming in to either donate cash for the Haiti appeal or donating items to be sold for Haiti.

“The record was in good condition, and the cover had only a bit of wear and tear around the edges. When we realised that it was the first album released by the Beatles and that it was one of the first 300 pressed, we went straight onto our Ebay account and put it up for auction.”

Many people in Merseyside have donated to the Haiti appeal and £3.5m has been raised in less than two weeks in the North-West.

Please Please Me hit the top of the UK album charts in May, 1963, and remained there for 30 weeks.

The first pressing was released by Parlophone, and is a sought- after item among collectors. Bidders were encouraged to come to the Oxfam Bold Street shop to take a look at the record themselves.

Mr O'Flanagan said: “We’re very pleased with the sale of the album. Right now we are focusing on raising as much as possible for the Haiti appeal. Our colleagues in Haiti are working really hard to provide thousands of people with clean water and to start rebuilding their lives for the future. People in Liverpool have been very generous so far, and we encourage anyone who hasn't done so to give what they can.”

Donate cash or goods for sale to help Haiti appeal at any branch of Oxfam or at www.oxfam.org.uk