A KNUTSFORD head teacher has joined 12 other Cheshire-based teachers and businesspeople to embark on a 4,000 mile trip to a school in Kenya.

Alison Hooper, head teacher of Egerton Primary School will join Jayne Chapman, Tatton Park’s farm manager, Jill Adams from Roberts Bakery and James Occleston a fifth generation member of the Robert’s family, to spend 10 days visiting Egerton’s partner school in Njoro, Kenya.

Alison and Lindsay Occleston Roberts, James’ mother, are member of the Egerton Schools’ Foundation, a charity which aims to maintain the partnership between the two schools which has recently secured a £6,300 grant from the British Foreign Schools Society.

The money will help to fund a new library at the school and employ a librarian for a year. To boost the new library, the team will also take out a selection of books, which have been donated by pupils of Egerton Primary.

Alison said: “This trip will build on the many years of hard work that we have put in to establish links between the two schools and to make real improvements to the lives of the children in Kenya.

“This year, I am really proud that the Egerton Schools’ Foundation has secured the funding to develop the library – a vital resource that will help to foster the love of reading in the children.”

Lord Wilbraham Egerton of the Tatton Estate founded Egerton Primary in 1893 and his nephew Maurice Egerton, founded the link school in Kenya in 1939.

The two schools only learnt of each other in 2005 and since then, Alison has worked tirelessly to forge strong links between the schools through project work and exchange visits. The trip to Kenya is the biggest exchange visit to date.

The Tatton Park Charitable Trust is also supporting the initiative through part funding the February trip so that the Lord Egerton’s legacy is ‘nurtured for current and future generations to enjoy’.