YOUNGSTERS in Africa will soon be able to enjoy a state-of-the-art playground thanks to a generous Burnley businessman.

Charity Furniture for Education Worldwide (FEW), which was offered the equipment, said trustees will install it on a derelict play area in Gambia.

The equipment includes two climbing frames, a roundabout, five playground spring toys and two large model aeroplanes that open into climbing frames complete with slides and other attractions.

County councillor Terry Burns MBE, a trustee of the charity, said a group of 10 would soon be taking the equipment to West Gambia to install it.

He said: “We are going to send a container out before and then we will have five days to build it from a derelict playground to an all-singing all-dancing one.

“The children over there will have never seen anything like it before in their lives.

“The two planes are amazing. I have never seen anything like them over here, never mind in Gambia.

“It is going to be fantastic.”

Coun Burns said the group had put the equipment up so they know what they are doing and had bought all the materials needed to turn it into a playground when they get there.

He said: “It is a big project and when it is done it will look spectacular.

“It will be one of the best playgrounds in the country.

“When we told our contact in Gambia about it he was really excited about it. And it isn’t costing us anything because all the trustees pay for themselves.”

FEW was launched in November 2008 with the aim of sending all surplus and redundant furniture from the Building Schools for the Future project to schools in deprived countries around the world.

Launched in the House of Commons by Secretary of State for Education Ed Balls, it was established by Coun Burns and Mike Tull, headteacher of Marsden Heights Community College in Nelson, after a visit to schools in Pakistan.