YOUNGSTERS at a primary school have raised valuable funds to help deprived children in Malawi. Pupils at St Christopher School in Barrington Road, Letchworth GC, began collecting old pairs of shoes for BBC TV programme Blue Peter s Shoe Biz Appeal. One of

YOUNGSTERS at a primary school have raised valuable funds to help deprived children in Malawi.

Pupils at St Christopher School in Barrington Road, Letchworth GC, began collecting old pairs of shoes for BBC TV programme Blue Peter's Shoe Biz Appeal.

One of them, Azza Essakhi, 11, sparked the schoolchildren's interest when she applied to Blue Peter for a pack on how to take part in their latest appeal.

The Year 6 student spoke in a school assembly, asking children to bring in their old shoes for recycling and telling them each pair would earn the appeal 16p.

The project was given a major boost when Gary Lee, who is the father of Year 3 pupil, James, eight, and works for shoe firm Oakley, donated a supply of brand new shoes for the school to sell.

The shoes were sold at £10 a pair and, so far, £710 has been raised.

A senior teacher at the school, Christine Percival, said: "We are very proud of Azza. She worked hard to promote the shoe collection. We were astonished at the number of shoes that James' dad donated and thrilled with the amount of money raised.