A TRIO of teachers from an Ascot school have successfully travelled more than 12,000km to deliver a minibus full of clothes, shoes and sports equipment ith youngto a Mongolian orphanage.

Lucy Williams, Jeremy Ward and Mark Burley, all senior members of staff at Papplewick School, in Windsor Road, took on their challenge which encompassed 20 countries in Europe and Asia in aid of the Lotus Children’s Centre over the course of the summer holidays.

The centre provides refuge for around 100 vulnerable and abused children in Mongolia and takes part in out-reach projects in the area helping in the development and future of children and young people.

The intrepid trio encountered a few challenges along the way, which most notably included being turned away on the Turkmenistan border after their transit visas had expired.

The trio had been travelling over to Turkmenistan from Azerbaijan on a cargo ship but the journey took six days rather than 24 hours.

When they arrived in Kazakhstan for the second time, they were held at customs again and had to unload every bag, box and toilet roll to be put through a scanner.