Award for charity couple

A GLITTERING, celebrity-packed event will see a pair of unsung heroes from Hailsham presented with a very special tribute next month.

Geoff and Geraldine Booker, founders of The Quicken Trust, have been invited to a Celebrities Guild dinner in London on November 10 to receive an Unsung Heroes Award from a famous person.

The Bookers, who live in Hailsham, do not know who nominated them for the award and only know it is for their extensive fund-raising work for orphans in Uganda.

'At first, I thought it was joke. Our son sometimes sends us spoof things like that, but when we rang the Celebrities Guild we were told it's all true. But they won't say who nominated us!'

Geraldine first visited Uganda three years ago. The poverty and helplessness of its people shocked her deeply. She visited a jungle village called Kabbubu, whose residents called themselves 'the forgotten people' because of the great poverty they lived in.

When Geraldine later returned to Kabbubu with her husband Geoff, the village pastor offered to introduce them to 12 orphans in the village centre. When they got there, no less than 400 orphans were waiting for them.

On returning home, the Bookers set up The Quicken Trust and started raising money in earnest. Since then, they have raised enough money for and overseen the construction of a school for the orphans and a borehole to provide villagers with fresh water.

The trust has also paid for accommodation for the school's headmaster and teachers and a provided a football field for the sporty youngsters. Work will soon begin on a new medical centre, also paid for by the trust.

The Unsung Heroes Award ceremony will be held at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London. Dozens of celebrities including Anthea Turner, Richard Wilson, Adam Faith and Bob Holness will be present.