A TEAM of dedicated teenagers have beaten the odds to raise £8,000 to enable a group of Romanian orphans to enjoy their first-ever holiday to the seaside.

The plight of the 100 Romanian teenagers forced to live in a run-down Bucharest orphanage, was brought to the attention of John Leake MBE, the headteacher of Birchley St Mary's Primary School, Billinge while he was visiting the country last year.

John has already raised £6,000 to enable a group of 16 Romanian youngsters and four adults to stay with families in St Helens for 10 days in May this year. And while finalising the arrangements in Romania, he was taken to the city orphanage. He told the Star: "I have been involved in fund-raising for Romanian orphans for years and I had actually campaigned for these older children years ago so I went to see how they are getting on. The orphanage staff were very kind but there is so little money that they are still seriously deprived. Sadly, because most of them have suffered from malnutritive diseases, there is no way they would be allowed out of the country but staff said what they would really love is to be able to see the sea as most of them never have."

John was told that it would cost £8,000 to close the orphanage down for a fortnight and take all 100 children and their carers to the coast. As soon as he got back, he enlisted the help of St Julie's Youth Club in Eccleston and the teenagers got straight to business raising the money.

John added: "They have worked wonders holding collections and sponsorship events and they finally reached the target during an amazing weekend of bag packing at Asda supermarket in St Helens when they raised £2,500. On a good weekend, you can usually raise no more than £800 so it was a fantastic achievement which means the Romania children will be able to spend two weeks at the seaside later this year."