PUPILS at Park Junior School have been collecting unwanted clothes, bedding, towels, soft toys and shoes to send to some of the poorest countries in the world.

Working with a company called Bag2TheFuture, the students have collected the items to send to families living in parts of Africa, Eastern Europe and the Indian sub-continent.

In return for taking part in the company's Bag2School programme, the school has been given a cheque for £272.50 for all of the items it has collected over the past three weeks.

The amount the school received was based on the weight of the collected clothes and the school's PTA will now decide how to spend the money.

Bag2TheFuture sells the clothes and textiles it gathers on to wholesalers in the developing world where they are sorted and sold on to the general public via domestic retailers.

Although Bag2TheFuture is a business and not a charity, the idea is to encourage entrepreneurs in the Third World to develop import markets and build up sustainable business structures in order to create local jobs.

Deputy head teacher Derk van den Broek said: "We have had a wonderful response. A huge number of bags have been brought in and we are very grateful to everyone who took part."