ENTRPRENUER Duncan Bannatyne swapped Darlington for Mexico to support a charity which helps children born with cleft lips and palates.

Mr Bannatyne, who owns a string of health clubs nationwide, is an ambassador for the Operation Smile charity which provides life-changing reconstructive surgery to children born with severe and debilitating cleft palates.

The Darlington-based businessman visited Mexico’s Guadalajara to see the charity’s work first hand and described the experience as “humbling and deeply moving”.

He added: “I hugely admire the team of volunteers who work with Operation Smile for their patience, time and dedication to this vitally important cause.

“The charity does work which, quite literally, transforms the lives and futures of hundreds of children in developing countries.

“Left untreated, a cleft palate will become more severe as the child grows, preventing them from communicating, socialising and even eating, resulting in sufferers either isolating themselves or being shunned by their communities.

“While I was in Mexico, I heard of horrific cases where people affected by this debilitating condition actually became hermits, living away from settlements in remote parts of the country because of the stigma attached to a cleft.”

Mr Bannatyne said that as a father, he found the plight of children ostracised because they had not received treatment as particularly heartbreaking and was delighted that Operation Smile work gave affected youngsters the chance to grow up into confident and content adults.

More than 200,000 children globally are born with a severe cleft condition every year, which can cause difficulties with eating, speaking and socialising.

Although the condition can be often be corrected with a safe and simple procedure which is available in the UK on the NHS, in developing countries the surgery is often either not available or simply too expensive for parents to afford.

Operation Smile formed in 1982 and has a team of dedicated medical volunteers who travel to 60 developing countries to provide surgery to correct cleft palates in children and young adults.

Alex Talbot, chief executive of Operation Smile UK, said he was “delighted” Mr Bannatyne was supporting the charity and helping raise awareness of the condition which is the third most common birth defect worldwide.

For more information, go to www.operationsmile.org.uk