A LEDBURY opticians and hearing centre is appealing for donations of unwanted specs and hearing aids to help two charities working in Africa.

Customers visiting Specsavers in The Homend are being asked to drop off their old hearing aids for the Sound Seekers appeal.

A spokesman said: "The donations will then be cleaned, refurbished and distributed to people in Africa. Unwanted specs can also be donated to help Vision Aid Overseas (VAO). These will then be recycled and the money will be used to support the charity’s work on the continent."

Store director John Roberts added: "Both of these charities do really important work to help support those who don’t have access to the range of healthcare services that we do in this country.

"We’d like to encourage local people to support us in our collections and drop the items off in the bins provided in store."

Sound Seekers is currently involved in projects in Cameroon, The Gambia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia. In most cases, these projects provide the only access to trained audiology healthcare and equipment, such as hearing aids, in these countries.

And VAO is dedicated to fighting poverty by transforming access to eye care in developing countries and raises money by selling the materials recycled from old glasses. The process is environmentally friendly and enables the charity to fund its overseas projects.

To drop off any unwanted hearing aids or pairs of specs, visit Specsavers at 3 The Homend, Ledbury, HR8 1BN. To make an appointment call 01531 633384 or go to https://www.specsavers.co.uk/stores/ledbury