THE sterling efforts of St John s School pupils and their parents will soon be paying dividends in some of the world s poorest countries, and the school s dining room.

THE sterling efforts of St John's School pupils and their parents will soon be paying dividends in some of the world's poorest countries, and the school's dining room.

The Parents, Teachers and Friends Association at the Sidmouth school ran weekly collections in October and November to amass nearly a tonne of clothing, accessories, curtains, bedding, soft toys and shoes. Company Bristol Textile Recyclers bought the collection and will export it to needy countries.

PTFA efforts have raised £328 to go towards polishing off a recent dining room refurbishment and providing some much-needed chairs. Dedicated head chef Matthew Wallis gave up his half-term in October to carry out the improvements.

PTFA member Nancy Craven said: "Matthew is a much liked character. He has transformed a dull, functional space into a bright, cheerful and social area and new chairs will complete the job.

"People donating textiles were really pleased to be contributing to two good causes at once-as well as gaining cupboard space at home.

"The textiles will be taken to Bristol, weighed, made into bales and sent to Africa or India. The bales are sold at very reasonable rates to local traders who then sell on the textiles to local people looking for second-hand goods. So the scheme benefits several different groups - the traders make a living, people in India and Africa gain access to cheap textiles and the donors raise funds for their particular good cause.

"We would like to thank families, staff and friends for all their donations. We'd also like to thank Fords for letting us use one of their self-storage containers during the collection period.