A VOLUNTARY group set up by a Worcester charity worker that helps improve the lives of people in India is looking to recruit new trustees to keep his dream alive.

Clare Norton, from The Friends of Swanirvar, said they ideally needed two people, with one taking on the role of treasurer, to help the project in West Bengal.

Swanirvar was founded in the early 1990s by the late Trid Sarkar, of St John's, who was also Worcester's first non-white magistrate.

Mrs Norton, of Chamberlain Road, Lower Wick, said the project, with help from the Friends, built and runs three primary and 15 pre-primary schools, an administration building, and teaches better methods of farming in the state.

She said Mr Sarkar founded the organisation following a visit to Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, West Bengal's capital, in 1991, when he met Dr Sujit Sinha.

He was so impressed by Dr Sinha's work in a group of villages north of the city, that he promised to raise funds for the project.

Mrs Norton met Mr Sarkar, who died in December 2001, aged 68, following a 19-year battle against progressive heart disease and diabetes, through the Society of Friends (Quakers) and has visited India twice to see the work being done.

She said Swanirvar means self-reliance.

"The underlying philosophy of Swanirvar to empower is always observed, that the people should ultimately be the ones organising and maintaining their own development," she said.

"It is not onerous, although there is work to be done, and raising money is never easy.

Poorest

"The trustees agree that their efforts are greatly rewarded by the progress and improvement which they can see in the lives of one of the world's poorest regions and feel it is a privilege to be associated with this work.

"Swanirvar also teaches women how to manage their own micro-finance schemes and self-help groups.

"They strengthen the existing health services by, for example, holding immunisation and blood donor sessions and teaching family planning."

If anyone is interested in joining the Friends of Swanirvar, they can contact Clare Norton on 01905 424128.