A Baildon woman who launched an appeal to collect much-needed school books for poverty-stricken children in Africa wants to thank Telegraph & Argus readers after thousands of donations flooded in.

Hildred Helm, who is married to TV sports commentator John, pledged to help the youngsters after visiting Gambia on a holiday in February last year.

She and a friend, Sandra Foster of Clayton, got together to start collecting the aid.

And now, after an appeal through the Telegraph & Argus, they are to visit the country next month with 182 boxes of donations, containing as many as 2,000 books.

Mrs Helm said: "We didn't expect such a big response and we'd like to thank everyone who has helped us.

"We would also like to say an incredibly big thank-you to a company called Rycon Power, which has donated more than £13,000 to help us meet the costs of shipping the aid over to Africa."

The women began collecting items after being appalled by the sight of Gambian youngsters sleeping on stone floors, unable to afford the £1.50 per month it costs to send them to school.

Since the pair began collecting and shipping out aid to Gambia, almost 20 schools in the area have benefited from the books - many of which are Ladybird books - as well as equipment such as maps, clothes, jigsaws and other educational toys.

Last year hundreds of youngsters in Gambia became Bantams fans after Mrs Helm responded to Bradford City's appeal in the T&A for a good home for 500 old shirts - returned under a scheme offering supporters a discount on the latest style - and had them shipped out to Africa.

The latest batch of books and equipment has been raised through an appeal in the T&A in May, and Mrs Helm is planning to travel to Gambia on October 10 to help distribute the aid.

"Offers of help are still pouring in and we're desperate to find somewhere where we can store all the goods," she added.

Anyone who can offer the women storage space can contact Mrs Helm on (01274) 429406.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.