Former Telegraph & Argus Editor Arnold Hadwin is scouring the Bradford district for a retired expert in coated fabrics with plenty of free time, a taste for adventure, and a genuine desire to help others.

Mr Hadwin is the Lincolnshire representative of the London-based British Executive Services Overseas, set up 26 years ago to provide expertise in the Third World. It now includes the former USSR and Eastern Europe.

BESO, supported by central government, the CBI, and large companies such as Shell and British Airways, offers the opportunity for retired experts to give their services free as a way of supplying direct aid. Travel and accommodation are provided.

"No money or goods change hands," Mr Hadwin told the T&A. "It's about helping local people in Africa or a former Baltic state to find solutions to their own problems. It's the most effective form of aid." Mr Hadwin, still remembered for his outspoken anti-fascist stance on race relations during his years at the T&A, has been a member of BESO since 1990.

On September 4 he flies off to Kazakhstan for 17 days to help turn a state information sheet into a Western-style newspaper.

If you have the expertise in the field of coated fabrics and have something to offer, contact Arnold Hadwin on 01522-754-381 (phone and fax) or e-mail on Marine 958+AOL.Com

Alternatively, contact British Executive Service Over-seas, 164 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1 V2RB.

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