A HUSBAND-and-wife team from Malvern are taking a rest after 20 years of helping people in the African nation of Gambia.

Margaret and Joe Loader, who live in Knapp Way, have been visiting the tropical company regularly since they first took a holiday there 20 years ago.

While they were staying at a resort hotel there, they befriended a waiter who took them to his home village of Keirsering, to show them how the average Gambian lives, and Mr and Mrs Loader were so moved by what they saw that they decided to make a difference. And they did, They have been back there every year since, and among their other achievements, they have helped build a shelter for the homeless in the village and establish a proper water supply.

Mrs Loader said: "My husband, whose job was a building and heating engineer, set to with the help of local people who he trained. They made 2,000 concrete blocks in one day.

"We built accommodation for 28 families, a shower room and toilets, paid for water to be piped in and built a tall water butt to store water and dug another well as the old one was contaminated."

As well as helping at the village, they also provided medical equipment for the hospital in the nation's capital of Banjul.

These included incubators, blood pressure monitors and other equipment, which was donated by the NHS when the old hospitals in Worcester were closed down.

And they have also paid for two young people from Keirsering, Mazz and Ffatu Baldah, to go to college.

None of this work would have been possible without the hard work of fundraising and the generosity of people back here in Malvern.

As a result, each year that they have visited, they have been able to take suitcases full of clothing for children and babies, to be distributed to their friends.

Over the years they have raised £28,605 which has gone to help the people of Keirsering.

Now, as they are getting on in years, Mr and Mrs Loader feel it is time to call a halt to their fund-raising, although they will go out again in March next year.

"We've really enjoyed meeting the people and helping them, and seeing the results of what we've done across the years," said Mrs Loader. "People in our country have so many privileges and don't know how lucky we are. It really broadens your mind to see how people live in Africa, and it's really rewarding to do something to help them.

"We also want to thank everyone here who has helped us, by raising money or donating clothes or whatever. Without their help, we couldn't have done so much."