A SCHOOL soccer team in Ghana will turn out in a Burnley high school's old strip - thanks to an enterprising teenager in the African country.

Ivy Bank High School received a letter from a boy they know only as Elias asking for pens and pencils.

Special needs teacher Janet Ratcliffe got a selection of equipment together and sent it to Ghana.

Elias wrote thanking the school and followed up with another letter explaining that his school - Iweneboa Kodua International - had been banned from taking part in a regional soccer final because it had no kit.

Again, Ivy Bank obliged. Head of physical education Craig Parkinson sent them one of the school's old strips, yellow shirts, blue shorts and yellow stockings.

Staff are not sure how Elias heard about Ivy Bank, buit they think he could have read a cutting from the Evening Telegraph.

Development officer Michael Watson said: "Janet Woods, who used to teach biology here went out to Ghana on a Voluntary Service Overseas scheme and she asked to have cuttings sent out to show the children.

"We think Elias may have read one of these. He writes in broken English but he is obviously a very bright lad."

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