An inspirational grandmother who dedicated her life to helping children in Gambia has been honoured by the Queen.
Over the past 20 years Sally Reader, Hadlow Road, Willaston, has raised more than £124,000 towards improving schools and the lives of thousands of children across the country.
Now the grandmother-of-five has been recognised for her remarkable achievements after being awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours list.
Sally, 72, set up the Friends of Gambian Schools (Frogs) after falling in love with the country during an unplanned holiday with her husband Malcolm, 71, back in 1992.
Remarkably, her love affair with Gambia began by chance after Malcolm fell off the roof and broke his leg, forcing them to cancel their Caribbean trip and rethink their plans.
During the trip Sally became involved in Guiding, heading backwards and forwards to help refurbish a school in a two-year project which ended with her founding the charity.
“I realised if I couldn’t do it with Guiding I would have to do it on my own,” said Sally, who founded Frogs with help from supporters and friends, sending 24 containers of books, pencils and educational equipment to schools across Gambia.
After seven years of sending equipment to children in Gambia, Sally and Malcolm moved to the country so that she could continue her work closer to the children she was helping.
“It is hard to imagine how many children we have affected by the work we have done,” said Sally, who is treated like the Queen by schools and children she visits across the country.
“If you sponsor one child you have an impact on that child’s life, if you do the same thing in a school you can change the lives of hundreds of children.”
Sally has helped build libraries, paint classrooms, introduce cookery and health care courses to villages and help improve more than 100 schools across the country.
The couple moved back to Willaston and closed the charity due to personal reasons in December 2012, but Sally still stays in touch with the schools and gets letters from children she has helped over the years.
Grandmother to Alice, 13, Charlie, 17, Jessica, 18, Harry, 17, and Thomas, 19, and mother to Sarah and Alison, Sally says she is overwhelmed by the honour.
“Keeping it bottled up was quite an effort,” said Sally, whose grandchildren visited her in Gambia and helped out in the projects.
“It is fantastic. I can’t imagine what it is going to be like to go to the garden party. I can’t believe it.”
