A FRODSHAM couple is appealing to everyone with old football shirts to donate them as welcome gifts to children living in a poor Ugandan village.

Dr Gareth Morgan and his wife Gill are hoping to collect about 1,000 football shirts before March 27, when Gareth makes a return visit to the village of Butta, one of the poorest areas in Africa.

For the past four years, Gareth and Gill have been raising funds to help villagers of Butta and outlying districts create a clinic and school.

The Morgan family, who live in High Street, Frodsham, forged strong links with the village after Gareth, a Runcorn GP, worked there during a sabbatical and saw for himself the desperate need for community facilities and how hard villagers were trying to help themselves.

The couple launched a support group - the Kimbuta Rural Development Programme - to channel UK fundraising directly to Butta, and they maintain constant contact with villagers who continue to build on the support.

Two years ago, Gareth and Gill, along with their sons, Matt and David, and Gareth's father and sister, Eric and Rhiannon, of Chester, visited Butta to check on the progress of various projects, and witness the opening of a village church/ community centre - built with donations given in memory of Gareth's mum, Hilda Morgan, who died shortly after his return from Uganda in 2000.

Eric and Rhiannon Morgan will join Gareth on the return visit to Butta this month, along with Matt Morgan, and David and Moira Curry and their son, Dave, from Frodsham.

The main aims of the trip will be to see how current projects are going (including new roofing for the primary school); help set up and programme computers donated from the UK; meet the new owners of the UK-supported craft centre - and to give the football shirts as gifts for the village schoolchildren.

'If you have any old ones, please give them to us; they will mean so much' said Gill, who can be contacted on 01928 733452.

Shirts can also be left at Main Street Chapel in Frodsham on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.