GAZETTE & HERALD: TRAVEL manager Valerie Parkinson from Studley is appealing for more help to build an orphanage in Nepal.

After spending 18 years in the travel industry, Ms Parkinson, 45, has spent the last five years travelling to Nepal and India. Now she is helping to give something back to the communities she has visited.

She set about raising money by offering original gifts from Nepal and India at Travelwise in Devizes. She has raised £300 so far.

She is hoping to raise the cash together with Exodus, the company she works for, to provide 40 children with a safe and clean place to live.

She first learnt of the orphanage last year when a travel guide told her about the site.

The donations so far have helped build the foundations of the building and work on the walls is progressing.

Ms Parkinson, who has just returned from Nepal, said she is hoping to go back in March with more cash so the house can be finished before the monsoon season. She said: "By March we are hoping to have raised more money to build the third stage, which is putting on the roof.

"When I was there we had the opening ceremony with those who will be involved and they laid the foundation stone back in December. They are all just so happy."