OLC contest

LOUGHBOROUGH Beacon Rotary Club held a competition in which girls from Our Ladies Convent made five-minute presentations about a topic of interest to them.

One told of how, when looking in an album at old black and white pictures of family members, she wondered what life was like in their days.

Some 150 years ago Loughborough had no municipal water supply or sewage system The Fearon well, commemorated in the town centre, dates from 1870.

Beacon Rotary has just helped a village in Ghana that has those problems now, the club says that five days out of seven the people suffer stomach upsets and are incapacitated with more serious illness lasting two weeks or more twice per year. Infant mortality is over 20 per cent.

A spokesperson for beacon Rotary said: “We have supported the village in building 15 latrines, one for each household. With our partner organisation in Ghana, cement was provided, and skilled construction craftsmen built the latrine outhouses, but the villagers had to dig their own pits, find local aggregate and make the bricks that were used. They were also taught about what causes disease and the need for good hygiene.

“Before the project the village thought they had a good source of water, as it never ran dry. Testing has found it to be highly polluted, just as Loughborough’s was 150 years ago.

“They now need someone like Archdeacon Fearon to help them to provide clean water.”