YOU have been kind enough to report my efforts to raise money on behalf of a big primary school in the Gambia, which is one of the poorest countries in the world.

At the New Yundum Basic School, over 1,000 young pupils do their lessons with huge enthusiasm, while their parents scrape a living from a little paid work in the tourist season and from growing groundnuts on their meagre farms.

The school buildings are made of mud bricks with branches which support sheets of battered corrugated iron; and one block of classrooms has no roof left, following the battering received during last year's rainy season.

The response from Tavistock people to my appeal for help to re-roof this building has been magnificent following your publicity; and we have been given some most generous donations, notably from the Lions Club of Tavistock, the NatWest Bank, Mrs Linda Elliott and Geoffrey Cox.

We have been given lots of good quality bric-a-brac and Michael Souttar at the pannier market has been a great help in enabling us to set our stall there on two recent occasions. As a result the balance in the school's development fund in the bank now stands at just over £800.

We are encourage to carry on. You will find our stall in the market once more on Thursday November 6, and we look forward to the continuing support of kindly residents in order to bring Tavistock's total contribution to the school to well over £1,000.

R F Eberlie

6 Vigo Mews, Tavistock