Young runners rush to help (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Young runners rush to help

TWO Cotswold youngsters wasted no time stepping forward to help a new charity raise funds for a Sri Lankan community destroyed in the tsunami disaster.

Steven Taylor, aged 13, and Will Belson, 10, ran from their home in Upper Rissington to Bourton to raise more than £500 for the house-for-a-house appeal.

Steven's mother Emanda said the youngsters had organised the fund-raising challenge themselves. "They're known in the village as the bob-a-job boys because they're always helping people and are always the first to step forward to volunteer for anything."

She added that the pair completed the run of more than three miles despite not being natural runners. "They were exhausted by the end of it," she said.

As reported in last week's Journal, the house-for-a-house charity has been set up by volunteers in Upper Slaughter who have vowed to build one new house in Seelamuna, near Battacaloa, for each of the 60 homes in their own village.

The appeal is being led by village resident Betty Rucker, who is regional co-ordinator for Habitat for Humanity UK, a charity that builds homes and facilities for impoverished people across the world.

The scheme has already started to spread from the picturesque Cotswold village, with Hatherop Castle School near Cirencester pledging to fund a new school for Seelamuna and traders in Bourton also offering support.

Mrs Rucker said she was delighted by the efforts put in by the youngsters and hoped others would follow suit. "What they have done is an amazing accomplishment and I would challenge other young people in the Cotswolds to follow their lead and see if they can do as well as they have done."

For information about getting involved in the appeal, visit www.houseforahouse.com.