A BETTER future for poverty-stricken children in Bangladesh is moving closer with the help of people in west Wiltshire.

Since an article in the Wiltshire Times highlighted the work being done by local fundraisers to build a school for the poorest girls in Bangladesh, money has been coming in to help.

Marion Parker, regional chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, has adopted the cause as the chairman's charity.

She has received over £250 in donations and had many inquiries about the Bangladesh Female Academy.

She said: "Just £1 a day is enough to clothe, feed and teach one girl, which is very little to someone in this country. It is the chance of giving these girls a future."

The Bangladesh Female Academy is the brainchild of Bangladeshi businessman Jamil Chowdhury, who this week met with Mrs Parker, north Wiltshire MP James Gray and Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, in Chippenham.

Mr Chowdhury plans to build a school that will take 3,000 of the poorest girls in his country and give them not just academic skills but the means to take care of themselves, their homes and to learn animal husbandry and crop cultivation.

The charity has organised a concert featuring music from the time of Jane Austen, in aid of the fund, at the Pump Rooms in Bath tonight.

Tickets cost £10 and are available on the door.

Anyone who would like to help or make a donation can contact Mrs Parker on (01225) 791023.