African villagers have celebrated their first harvest since a weekly newspaper’s campaign helped them get fresh water on tap for the first time.

Last year the Stourbridge News raised £12,350 through its Well Of Life appeal to fund a solar-powered water pump and farmland irrigation system for the drought-stricken village of Sintet, in The Gambia.

Now crops including onions, cabbage, bananas, mint and cashew nuts have been grown at a farm in Sintet providing “life-saving” food for the villagers.

The campaign was put in to action with Stourbridge school Ridgewood High after the tragic death of an eight-year-old boy who fell into one of the village wells, as well as two years of drought in the ‘rainy’ season.

How the News covered the pump’s unveiling last year

The system has been named Mustapha’s Well Of Life in his honour, and a competition was run among primary schools by the News for pupils to design a plaque bearing his name, attracting around 300 entries.

News assistant editor Pete Wallace joined Ridgewood’s Project Gambia group at the wel”s unveiling last yea, and ran a daily blog focussing on the group’s work there.

Of the developments since, Pete said: “Seeing the images back from Sintet of the crops which have been growing there since the Well of Life Appeal ended makes what we achieved together seem all the more real.

“Our readers have left Sintet with a proven legacy, which will transform the lives of the 4,500 villagers for generations to come.”