AGROUP of Brighton schoolchildren have raised £20,000 and spent it on building a new library for locals in a remote Ghanaian community.

The children, from Brighton College, travelled to the area to see the results of their fevered fundraising and meet the people who will use the Akumadan Library in the country’s North Offinso district.

The pupils organised music concerts, cake bake offs and book drives all year back home during 2016 in order to get the money together under the umbrella of charity Reading Spots which was set up by two Brighton College teachers Cat Davison and Paul Wilson and six pupils.

Some 7,000 books were also sent out to the library, thanks to the efforts of parents sending them into the Eastern Road school.

The two-storey building, for adults and children, is the first of its kind in the region and it is hoped that all the local schools will use the library on a set day each week. In a part of the world where access to books is rare, the charity hopes the library will improve literacy and education across the generations.

Ms Davison, who travelled out to Ghana with the children, said: “The reaction from the community was truly heart-warming and it is clear that this resource will have a real impact on all members of the community, ranging from young children, to students, to parents and the elderly. We hope the library will play many roles, providing IT equipment, facilitating adult literacy lessons, and hosting poetry reading and creative writing competitions. In addition, all the schools in the community will have timetabled lessons in the library.”

Pupil Max Clark said: “When we first visited the site of the Akumadan library, which is now run entirely by the community, we got stuck in straight away. We bought and painted furniture before unpacking 7,000 books. The opening of the library was a surreal experience; the expression of sheer euphoria on the children’s faces was incredibly rewarding to see. Every time we open a book here, we should try to remember and share in the experience that the children in Ghana had.”

More than one in four over the age of 15 are illiterate in Chana.

This is the not the first time Brighton College pupils have fund-raised for Ghanaian communities. In Christmas 2015, they made a similar trip to the region to see the results of their money-raising – a library attached to local Messiah International School which the community now travel to from far and wide and use late into the night.

Reading Spots has also funded two more libraries in Ghana and will next focus on the eastern region of Ghana which has a great need for support with educational resources.