We had a great visit to Arkengarthdale CE School today (Thursday, December 10) and collected some wonderful toys to take to the children at the school for the blind in the Gambia. David Pointon visited this small school (just 38 pupils) recently and showed them slides of the Gambian school. And they decided they wanted to send some of their toys...

David with the Arkengarthdale school children and some of those toys.

David told them that many children in the Gambia don't have any toys. Those at the school for the blind and visually impaired will not only enjoy playing with these toys but also learn a lot about the world around them through feel and touch. Many thanks, therefore, to all those children who have donated toys. Below: Two children in the kindergarten class enjoying some of the toys David and Ken took to the Gambia on their last visit.

From Arkengarthdale, which is a beautiful small dale in the northern part of the Yorkshire Dales, David drove over the moors to Carperby to a storage facility owned by Nick and Hazel Oliver where other toys had been stored. There he and Ken sorted all the toys and packed them into the van ready for departure on January 3. (For more about Arkengarthdale school see its website. )