Northiam charity sendscontainer of aid to Gambia

The charity called BACE – Building and Assisting Communities with Education – have already provided a school in a village called Bonsa and are in the process of building a health clinic there.

Items packed inside the container included exercise books, pencils, rulers and erasers for the school and gardening tools and a wheelbarrow for a vegetable plot beside the school.

Benenden Hospital, at Cranbrook, donated wheelchairs, hospital screens, mattresses, catheters, wound dressings and surgical packs, as well as 2,000 miniature teddy bears and 2,000 pens, for the new medical centre.

Parent company Benenden Health donated 50 football shirts, blankets and other items and the football club it sponsors, York City, donated footballs.

The Conquest Hospital in Hastings donated four hospital beds. Other items, donated by local people and BACE supporters, included toothbrushes and toothpaste, nappies, sanitary towels, hand sanitisers, clothes and shoes.

BACE has produced a calendar for 2014 which it will sell to support the cost of shipping the container.

Jempson’s, of Peasmarsh, sponsored the calendar which means all the money from sales will help the charity. Bournes’ removals, of Rye, kindly supported the cost of the container and Morfeys Removals donated all the packing boxes.

Tracy Barnett, of Northiam, who is the co-founder and chair of BACE, said: “We have been overwhelmed with the support from local people and local organisations filling this container.

“The support from The Jempson Foundation means that all profit from the calendar will cover our shipping costs, and without the expert advice and hands on help from Thomas Bourne we would never have packed so much in. We are so very grateful for everyone’s help, we would never have completed it this year otherwise.

“BACE is a development charity, currently working in the poorest parts of the Gambia. To order a calendar, for £8, email the charity at [email protected]. To donate to the charity visit www.mydonate.bt.com and search for BACE. Alternatively text BACE12 to 70070 followed by £1, £2, £5 or £10.”