BORNE out of the horrors of the 2004 tsunami, the charity School in a Bag is now a global organisation working in 29 countries.

Speaker, Luke Simon, outlined the work of the group at the August meeting of Chard Ladies’ Evening Guild.

His own personal experience of the tragedy spurred him on to establish a charity to help the thousands of children who had been orphaned or lost their homes at that time.

In 2009, ‘ School in a bag’ began to distribute pencils, biros, colouring pencils, pens, exercise books and even lunch boxes which can double as teaching aids.

To date, well over 60,000 bags have been delivered to some of the estimated one fifth of the world’s disaster-affected children.

Guild members were enthralled by Mr Simon’s presentation.

Earlier in the meeting,It was announced that £123 had been made at the July garden party which will help with guild finances.

In connection with this, The treasurer gave details of her proposed budget for the next three years emphasising that income will need to be reviewed as a matter of urgency at the September meeting.

Coming sub-group meetings include Handicraft on August 17, ChitChat on 19, Lunch Club on the 14 and Games group on September 2.

Competition winners were Shirley Forkes and Heather Manning, with the raffle being won by Esme Clark, Eileen Marshall, Kathy Trott, Pat Ives, Emily Hobbs and Judith Minter.

The next meeting will be held on September 6 when Rachel Harding will speak about pins, needles and a sewing machine. Visitors and new members will be very welcome at 7.30pm at Manor Court School.