A GROUP of medics from St Helens are to embark on a mercy mission to the Third World in the latest of a series of sight-saving expeditions.

The eight-strong group, containing doctors and nurses from the Rennie Eye clinic at St Helens Hospital will make their next trip to Burkino Faso in West Africa in November.

There they hope to be able to improve on last year's expedition when they successfully treated more than 150 local residents and screened over 1,000 children for eye defects and blindness.

They also hope to spend time training doctors and nurses in operation procedures.

To fund this massive operation, the group are setting up a charity called Opthalmic Aid, believed to be the only one of its kind in country.

They hope to be able to raise the money to send at least eight medics to West Africa, and eventually to build a clinic in the country at an estimated cost of £25,000.

Although they hope to be able to benefit from a donation from the charity Comic Relief, the group have scheduled a series of fundraising events over the coming months.

They also hope that people may help by donating old or unwanted pairs of spectacles or by setting up fundraising events of their own.

To start the ball rolling a charity dinner dance will be held at the Stakis Hotel in St Helens at 7.30pm on Friday, June 13.

Tickets are priced at £30 (donation), which includes a three-course meal and live band, and can be obtained from Lynne Dearden at the Rennie Eye Clinic on 01744 458323.

Anyone who wishes to help with fundraising or would like to hear more about the work of the group can contact Cynthia Penketh or Dr Jose Villada on 01744 458370 or alternatively access the charity's pages on the Internet on -

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/Kae 90/

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