TWO retired Burnley teachers received a generous response when they returned to their former schools to ask for financial help.

Former St Hilda's art teacher Lois Lamle and her husband Klaus, a former St Theodore's science teacher, plan to travel to Northern Spain on May 20 for a one week sponsored pilgrimage - but they must first raise £1,800 each to be able to take part.

Their Santiago 2000 trip will raise money for catholic charities the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Depaul Trust, which help house the homeless and provide help for the needy.

The generosity of the St Hilda's girls, who handed over buckets full of change totalling £456, has taken the couple's current sponsorship total to £1,250 each.

Mrs Lamle, who lives in the Briercliffe area of Burnley, said: "My husband has done the Pennine Way and we've done the coast to coast walk before but we thought this was a challenge.

"We decided to do it for a good cause and we have both worked on behalf of the St Vincent de Paul Society through our church, St John the Baptist, for about 15 years.

"People have been so generous about giving us sponsorship.

"St Theodore's will begin their St Joseph's Penny fund-raising events later this term and they have promised to give us a proportion of what they collect too.

"My husband thinks we will be walking about 15 miles a day and at the moment we usually do about seven or eight miles so we should be all right."

The Lamles will walk from Mansilla to Santiago de Compostela along the route of the medieval pilgrims before returning to England on May 28. To sponsor the couple, call Father Michael Waters on 01282 423824.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.