A WEST Devon charity will be receiving a special visit next week in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

Kathy Harding, founder of Operation Sunshine, is arriving in Tavistock on Sunday to join in with the charity's birthday celebrations.

It was at a jumble sale in 1979 that Kathy, having returned from Southern Rhodesia and then living with her family in Bere near Cullompton, realised how cast-off clothing could be used to help families in Africa.

In 1980, courtesy of Air Zimbabwe, the first consignment of 15 hessian sacks of clothing was sent to the destitute camps for those fleeing from Mozambique. Operation Sunshine had been born, and a year later was registered as a UK charity.

In 1992 Kathy and her husband returned to Zambia. Today she runs the Zambian end of Operation Sunshine and works closely with a Zambian charity, the National Agenda for Social Advancement (NASAD), tending to the needs of the sick, the destitute and lepers.

Most recently she has been a major force in enabling the construction of a new village called Kachale, especially for lepers and their families. In 2002 she was awarded the MBE for her work in Africa.

While on her visit to Tavistock, Kathy will have the opportunity of visiting Hurdwick Farm, the operational centre for Operation Sunshine, will speak at an informal gathering of supporters on Monday June 20 and will attend a special celebration service at 3pm on June 22 at St Andrew's Church in Whitchurch.