MISSION OF MERCY By Brian Gomm FIFTEEN caring Christians are back from a mercy mission helping Romanian orphans and disabled children.

Organised by the Lowton Churches Romania Appeal, the group, consisting mainly of teenagers, declared its annual summer visit to Romania the "best yet".

Members spent a week looking after and arranging activity programmes for children at an orphanage at Lugoj, near Timisoara. A week later, they took 14 disabled children on the first holiday of their lives to Sinaia, a resort in the Carpathian mountains, and a town with a special 10-year relationship with the Leigh area.

The children had a wonderful holiday of first-time experiences, riding on a train, visiting a castle, taking a cable-car ride to the top of a mountain and ordering their own food from a restaurant menu.

It was a great learning experience too for the young people from Lowton, who were continuing an annual programme started by Wigan Youth Service in the year, following the Romanian revolution.

Group leader Kevin Simpson said: "It was great to be able to help children with so many needs and equally it was tremendous to see the way our own young people worked together to achieve what was probably our best summer programme yet."

All the young people raised funds to cover both the cost of their own trip and all the expenses of the Romanian group. And the youngest member of the party, 10 year-old Dale Simpson, raised a whopping £1,000 with a sponsored bike ride.

Later this year, links with Sinaia will be further strengthened when a delegation from there will visit schools and businesses in the Leigh area.

Already plans are being made for 2002, with hopefully even more people joining the group. Anyone who would like to be involved should write to Lowton Churches Romania Appeal, 13 Winwick Lane, Lowton, WA3 1LR.