Romanian street children are to be given a new start in life, thanks to a Shipley charity.

Jubilee Outreach Yorkshire (JOY) has bought a small holding for about 30 city youngsters so they can find jobs and work their own land.

The charity, which has shops in Shipley and Bingley, raised £10,000 within five weeks to fund the project in central Transylvania.

Run by a Franciscan priest, 30 street children will be taught farming, animal management and car maintenance on land about 45 minutes away from Tirgu Mures.

JOY co-director Dr Kathy Tedd said: "This is one of our most exciting projects and the children should be in within four weeks. They will be away from the temptations of city life where abandoned street children have to steal to survive and can end up glue-sniffing and all sorts of things. Other people are always tempting them back, but this is a little village away from all that and it's going to be ideal.

"When I came back from a visit in August and suggested the idea, everybody expressed horror as we had so many other commitments. But I just firmly believe that if something is right, God will provide.

"Within a few days, the money started coming in and one group in Thackley gave us £7,000. We'd just like to thank everybody who helped."

JOY has worked with Father Paul and his Romanian charity for more than ten years, supporting a soup kitchen, orphanage and poor school. The smallholding in the village of Glodeni will aim to be self-sufficient, using nearby woodland for heating and growing sunflowers to produce oil.

Dr Tedd, a paediatrician who has been involved with JOY for more than 11 years, said: "Romania is a country where there is still much corruption and bureaucracy and it's so good to find this little group working in spite of the hassle from the authorities. They don't have the support we have here - they are really wonderful people."

Joy will be launching its Christmas shoe box appeal next month to help poverty-stricken families survive the harsh Romanian winter.

Essential items include dried pasta, long-grain rice, plain flour, sugar and cooking oil and any spare room can be filled with toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, flannels, pencils and notepads. Meat and powdered milk products cannot be accepted because of import rules and clothing such as hats and scarves must be new, otherwise they have to be fumigated. Forms and information will be available from the JOY shops in Westgate, Shipley, and Main Street, Bingley, or by calling (01274) 531999.