DAVID RENDEL ATTENDS LAUNCH OF "SEND MY FRIEND TO SCHOOL"

3.16.38pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 14th Feb 2005

David Rendel, MP for Newbury, took part in the launch of Send My Friend to School at Portcullis House in Westminster last Tuesday 8 February.

Children from Langdon School in Newham, who appeared with Nelson Mandela at the huge MAKE POVERTY HISTORY rally in Trafalgar Square, were in Westminster to begin the massive task of making a million model 'buddies' representing some of the 100 million children worldwide who don't go to school. Schools all over the UK have been invited to make the buddies, as part of the Send My Friend To School campaign. The campaign, led by leading charities and teachers' unions, plans to present a million buddies to the leaders of the world's richest and most powerful nations, who meet for the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, in July.

NOTES:

The Global Campaign for Education brings together major NGOs and teachers' unions in over 150 countries around the world. It promotes education as a basic human right, and mobilises public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfil their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people. UK member organisations include ActionAid, ATL, Comic Relief, EIS, NASUWT, NUT, Oxfam, Plan, Save the Children, Sightsavers International, SSTA, UTU and VSO.

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY brings together a wide cross section of more than 200 UK charities, campaigns, trade unions, faith groups and celebrities who are united by a common belief that 2005 offers an unprecedented opportunity for global change: www.makepovertyhistory.org

For more information about Send My Friend to School, visit www.sendmyfriend.org.