TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Friday November 6, 1992

Merry Christmas Romania - love Campbeltown

CAMPBELTOWN’S Christmas present to the forgotten orphanages of Bacau, Romania, will be a truckload of essential items, much needed aid, which will alleviate the suffering of children left to die of AIDS and Hepatitis B in the aftermath of Ceausescu’s evil reign.

Masterminded by the youth club of Lorne and Lowland Church, Campbeltown, which has already raised more than £2,000, the appeal has now widened to include the whole community, which is well-known for its generosity, as well as other churches and schools.

The Simona Trust Romania, founded by Wendy Ferguson, a Scots nurse, is named after a little girl, aged three, named Simona.

Simona is a beautiful little girl who will never walk - her muscles have wasted through lack of stimulation - and she looks about half her age. She is a little gypsy girl and she is dying of AIDS.

Wendy Ferguson was so touched by the efforts of the Lorne and Lowland youth club that she came to Campbeltown recently to meet the youngsters and the organisers of the club and to tell the congregation of the church about the forgotten children of Bacau.