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Kind donations helping schools in Africa and Asia

23/ 7/2008

A container will be arriving in Burnley tomorrow to be loaded up with second- hand furniture for use in schools in Asia and Africa.

The event has been organised by East Lancashire-based charity Furniture for Education Worldwide.

FEW was the brainchild of a Burnley county councillor and a Pendle head teacher who visited schools without tables and chairs on a trip to Pakistan.

Some unwanted furniture from Lancashire schools has already gone to the Gujrat region of Pakistan.

This summer several East Lancashire schools are moving into new buildings with purpose built equipment as part of Lancashire County Council's £250 million Building Schools for the Future programme.

Their old furniture would have been sent to landfill sites - but thanks to the new charity it is being shipped to schools in Pakistan, Ghana, and Kenya.

Tomorrow furniture from the former Shuttleworth College site on Kiddrow Lane, Burnley, is being loaded into containers by volunteers from the local community.

County Councillor Terry Burns and Marsden Heights Community College head Mike Tull, who started the project, are still raising money to pay for shipping.

Cllrs Burns said: "In schools we saw in Gujrat the children were keen. The teachers were dedicated.

"But a lack of equipment held them back. Youngsters sat on the floor - leaning on their bags to write.

"Because of our Building Schools for the Future programme 16 schools in East Lancashire, including Marsden Heights, will be moving into purpose-built accommodation in the next two years, with made-to-measure fixtures and fittings.

"So we had an idea - send the furniture destined for landfill to Pakistan instead. It's re-cycling on a global scale.

 "Local community groups will have first refusal but if they don't want the used equipment it will be shipped to Gujrat by container.

"Pendle's Pakistani community have paid to transport one load that is already being used.

"Now I am appealing for generous organisations and businesses to pay for containers of furniture."

Anyone who would like furniture for a community organisation in Lancashire; who would like to sponsor a container; or who would like to suggest a school in a poorer country that needs help, can contact County Councillor Terry Burns on 07976 611119.