A JUNIOR football team who blew the final whistle on their old kit have found a new home for it thousands of miles away.

When the youngsters of Elton and Walshaw Under-11s heard the local vicar's daughter was going to Namibia in Africa for three weeks, they asked if they could donate the football kit which they had almost outgrown, to deprived children there.

Now Tilda Poward, whose mother, Frankie Ward, is the vicar at St Peter's Church, Bury, has got so many shirts and shoes to take she has had to re-think her packing.

Team manager Ged McGee said: "I am involved with St Peter's Church and when it was announced that Tilda was going to Africa I thought it was a nice idea for her to take something from the children of Bury.

"Plus it was a good excuse for the lads to get a new pair of boots!"

The team handed over their old kit to Tilda at Elton High School last Wednesday just before they played a match against Springside. And in a generous gesture, the youngsters from Springside turned up with some donations as well.

During Tilda's visit, which is part of the Namibia Youth Exchange 2004, she will be working in St George's School in the capital of Windhoek and St Mary's School, 600 miles away in Onekwaya.