Stamp fundraisers have it licked for African school
Pictured are Liz Griffin ( Stamp co-ordinator for Banbury Oxfam shop ), Des Waddington ( Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints ) with volunteer Finlay Tomasso ( 8 ).
A FUNDRAISING stamp collection covering the Daventry area has generated enough funds to build a classroom in Africa.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints collects stamps in Daventry and expanded the idea to cover an area from Warwick to Nuneaton.
Des Waddington, from the church said: “We’ve collected around 200,000 stamps now from across the region, but the majority – something like 150,000 – have come from Daventry.
“We started the project 18 months ago and I never thought we would collect so many in such a short time.
“Daventry has just been amazing.”
Once trimmed, the stamps are given to Oxfam where staff sort and sell them through a specialist shop in Banbury.
Liz Griffin, stamp co-ordinator for the shop, said: “We sell packets of mixed stamps, but we also keep an eye out for anything that could be a bit unusual and could be worth a little bit more.”
Others are given to Leukamia Care which recycles the stamps by removing their silk content.
So many stamps have been collected in Daventry and the surrounding area that they will be able to pay for a school classroom in Africa.
Although the church volunteers are delighted with the response from the Daventry area, they have been left with the huge task of trimming excess paper off.
There are a whole brigade of volunteers who spend time snipping off bits of envelopes.
One of them is eight-year-old Finlay Tomasso.
His father Andrew said: “Finlay, his two sisters and his mum and I spend time trimming the stamps.
“I think it’s amazing the response we’ve had.
“The thing is it doesn’t cost people anything because normally stamps go in the bin with the envelope. With just a little bit of time you can make a real difference.”
The scheme accepts any stamps, including standard first and second class ones.
If you have any to donate, the Daventry Express office in High Street is one of the collection points
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Wednesday 22 May 2013
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