METHODIST Churches around Furness have raised almost £3,000 for an orphanage project in South Africa.

The churches donated £2,870 to Lebone Village, a project in Bloemfontein, which started as an AIDS orphanage to care for children who lost their parents to the disease.

More than 20 years later the village is a fully functioning settlement with orphanage, school, agricultural centre, skills development centre and a training and counselling centre.

Members of Askam Methodist church have been visiting the project since 2004 and presented a cheque at the church on Tuesday.

Dorothy Gleves, 78, of Askam, has visited Lebone Village twice.

She said: “Having previously visited the Lebone Village I have seen that it has been grown with love since it was started.

“I have seen the great work they do first hand and at the church we’re very proud to support it.”

The funding raised by Methodist Churches around Furness will go towards helping the village continue to prosper.

The village supports 1,475 children from the surrounding area by feeding them as well as teaching 54 children in the pre-school centre.

Avril Synman, 68, and her husband Willelm, 70, founded the Lebone Village in 1997 and have gathered support from businesses around the world as well as Methodist Churches in Cumbria.

Mrs Synman said: “We have five sections of the village and are totally focused on self sustainability.

“We teach and feed vulnerable children in our village and from the rest of the local community.

“Let me tell you we are totally thankful for the support we get off the churches in Cumbria, if it wasn’t for the churches here we wouldn’t have made it to where we are now.”

More information about Lebone Village can be found at www.lebonevillage.com/about-us