A POLICE officer from Stoneclough is preparing to embark on a charitable trip to Africa to help children forced to live on the streets.

Martin Tomlinson will be part of a 15-strong team from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and the county's Fire and Rescue Service travelling to the Ugandan capital of Kampala later this year.

The group will spend eight days building schools and shelters to help get children out of the city’s slums, as part of a partnership scheme with charity Retrak that is in its fifth year.

The 31-year-old, who has two children aged four and five, said: “This is a charity I’m obviously very aware of because of the work GMP and the fire brigade have done with them over the past few years.

“My own kids are at an age where it is really important for me to set as good an example for them as I can, and this is a great way of doing that.

“My children, and most children in this country, have near enough everything they could possibly want, and I think doing this will help them understand how lucky they are.

“They aren’t going to starve or find themselves having to live in slums like the kids we will be going out there to see.”

Martin, who has been a police officer for 12 years, has to raise £2,000 for the self-funded trip and is planning a number of fundraising events in the months leading up to the trip.

A Just Giving page has already collected £150 in donations, with Martin, who works in GMP’s Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit, due to depart on October 31.

He added: “It’s a lot of money to try and raise by yourself but I’ve already had some great support from friends and family and we have a few good things planned in the next few months to help me reach that £2,000 mark.”

Retrak is a UK based charity set up in 1994 that works with children in Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya to provide an alternative to life on the street.

To donate: visit www.justgiving.com/Martin-Tomlinson/