A MOTHER and son from Wilton are raising money for Afghan orphans by selling glass hand-blown by Afghan refugees.

Jane and John Quick, who have both lived and worked in Afghanistan, are taking stalls at a series of Christmas fairs in the Salisbury area.

Their first was at the Salisbury Hospice Fair at the Cycling Club in Salt Lane, Salisbury, on Saturday.

The money they raise will go to Khorasan House in Peshawar, Pakistan, an orphanage set up at the beginning of the year to care for Afghan children who have fled from the conflict in their home country.

The glass that is being sold is hand blown by Afghans whose family tradition of glassmaking goes back 400 years.

A journalist, Jane travelled to Afghanistan in 1991 to do research. John followed her three years later, working for a non-governmental organisation creating income for disabled people.

But he increasingly felt that trade, rather than dependence on aid, was the way forward for Afghans, and he has concentrated for the past few years on helping them to find markets abroad for their goods.

John and Jane will be selling the Herati glass again on Saturday and Sunday at Wilton Rotary Club's fair in the Bibury Suite at Wilton Racecourse, on Saturday, November 24, at the Conservative Association's fair at the Guildhall in Salisbury, and on Saturday, December 1, at the Wilton Community Bazaar.