CHIPPENHAM NEWS: PEOPLE from all over the country came together in Chippenham on Thursday to try and make a better future for poverty stricken children in Bangladesh.

North Wiltshire MP James Gray and chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service Keith Best were among those who met with Bangladeshi businessman Jamil Chowdhury at the Taj Mahal restaurant.

Mr Chowdhury is trying to make his dream of a school for girls who would otherwise have no education at all come true.

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

She said: "The meeting was a way of bringing together all the people who are interested in supporting the academy. It was very encouraging to have such a positive meeting."

Mr Chowdhury has donated the land on which the academy will stand but work cannot continue until more funds have been raised.

When it is completed the academy will be able to take 3,000 of the poorest girls from Bangladeshi villages, including orphans.

At the moment only the select few girls whose parents can afford to pay receive any education.

Mrs Parker said: "To give these little girls the future of education has never been done before. This is so ground-breaking and it will influence the future of Bangladesh."

Just £1 a day will be enough to give a youngster an education that includes not just academic work but how to care for themselves and their homes, crop cultivation and animal husbandry.

The fundraisers have already given enough money to provide life-saving fresh water pipes for several communities and a hygienic crematorium so villagers don't have to create funeral pyres alongside rivers that provide drinking water.

They also plan to carry on fundraising to provide help in whatever areas it is most needed.

"You see babies with diarrhoea and liver disease, things that can be treated and cured if they just had the means. It is heart-rending but you have to be practical about it and ask what you can do about it," said Mrs Parker.

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 with fundraising or make a donation can contact Mrs Parker on (01225) 791023.