Used tools for Africa

For years Peter Munnery has been collecting used tools in support of a special cause. This morning he was a busy man.

Together with colleagues, he was running a well-attended coffee morning and sale at Clifford Hall at Beulah Baptist Church.

Tools With A Mission (TWAM) is a charity which refurbishes used tools and sends them to many parts of the world where they can provide a livelihood for poor or stateless people.

TWAM now regularly exports over a 100 tons of tools a year.

The work involved in sorting, repairing, refurbishing and storing tools is willingly undertaken by teams of volunteers and individuals in many parts of the country. Refurbished tools are dispatched all over the world from TWAM's headquarters in Ipswich or from one of a growing number of regional depots.

Great care is taken to ensure that the requests received reflect a genuine need. In turn, TWAM tries to ensure that the tools reach their destination in good condition and in good time.

As people browsed stalls which included bric-a-brac and glassware or enjoyed a cup of coffee, Peter Munnery explained from the serving hatch from the kitchen: "I am the local collector. People donate their tools and I send them off.

"So what we do each year is have a garden party at my home in Warwick Road in the summer and a coffee morning and sale here at the hall to raise money.

"We need almost everything in the way of tools except garden tools like mowers.

"Shovels and spades and saws - you name it, we take it. I try to make up collections like sets of carpenters' tools or sets of electricians' tools."

The event raised 314.