BLACKBURN Rovers can count the youngsters of a Kenyan village among their grow- ing supporter base.

The children are now proudly wearing their Rovers shirts, hats, and scarfs, thanks to the efforts of Corporal Darren Gudgeon.

His appeal was answered by The Rovers Trust and the club, who rallied to his call and took his plea to fans, launching the ‘Kits for Kenya’ appeal. Anyone with spare items of kit was asked to take them to Ewood Park, where a special bin was sited inside the club shop.

And the youngsters received the presents when two large boxes filled with clothes were sent to Darren for him to distribute to the children. A third will follow shortly.

Blackburn Rovers’ Shirt Sponsor RFS matched the fans’ generosity by donating some further training kit.

Cpl Gudgeon, 33, a soldier based in Nair-obi helping to train the Kenyan army, said he was overwhelmed with the response.

He said: “I would like to thank the fans, the Trust and, of course, the club. The clothes they have prov-ided will bring joy to the kids, and help them understand that there is help out there.”

Simon Barnes, secretary of the Rovers Trust, co-ordinated the appeal and handled the logistics of transp-orting donated items to Kenya.

He said: “This is one of the many important initiatives the Rovers Tr-ust is successfully working on for mem- bers and the supporter base as a whole. Sometimes it doesn't take a lot of money, or effort, to show a little kindness and make a lot of difference in people’s lives.”

When Cpl Gudgeon, a Rovers Trust member with two children, arrived at the orphanage, five of the children had HIV and were in a bad way, but through various donations, their health improved.