CONCERT-GOERS are helping to change the lives of young people in Nepal by providing a safe haven from earthquakes in which to learn.

Proceeds from the recent annual Northern region concert by the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas will be spent providing shock-proof classrooms for children in Chyandanda school in west Nepal also allowing its transformation from a lower to a higher secondary school.

The Northern Echo:

The recent annual Northern region concert by the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas

Last year’s concert raised funds to replace the bamboo classroom of a school in the Okhaldhunga district of east Nepal which had been erected in place of one which was badly damaged during the earthquakes of 2015.

Chairman of the Yorkshire branch of the Gurkha Welfare Trust Col Keith Ryding said: “It is hard for us to imagine living and learning constantly under the threat of earthquakes and by providing this shock-proof environment young people will be able to concentrate fully on studies that could change their lives.”

The concert’s main sponsor, chairman of Sherwoods Alasdair MacConachie, whose father was a Gurkha commander, added: “My father served with the 7th Gurkhas and I believe it is our duty to continue to support them, ex-servicemen and their families back in Nepal.”