VITAL equipment and supplies are on their way to help some of the poorest people in the world, thanks to a Lowton-based charity.

The Epiphany Trust has spent nine months collecting all manner of things, from clothes and keyboards to hospital beds and sensory equipment – now on their way in a 40ft container to two schools and a hospital in Bangladesh.

The items will be shared by the Tauri Foundation, which provides care, therapy and education to 60 autistic children in Dhaka and the Bishwa Darbar school, which educates 500 of the poorest five to 15-year-olds in Chittagong.

Gill Dickinson, from the charity, said: “We started collecting for the two schools but when we heard about the collapse of the clothing factory in Dhaka last year – which killed 1,000 people – we decided to send hospital beds out as well.

“Wigan and Leigh Hospice donated some beds that they no longer needed for the hospital that treated the survivors of the disaster.

“Our director Bill Hampson went out last year to make sure they are legitimate charities. He will go out again to ensure the equipment is being used how we want it to be.

“We couldn’t have done it without the enthusiastic volunteers who helped us, or the companies and people who donated schoolbooks, clothes, musical equipment and all the rest of it.”

The Epiphany Trust was set up in 1990 to provide aid to orphaned children in Romania following the revolution.

It has since sent help to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.