(Photograph) - When George Eliot school in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, asked the Gurkhas stationed at a local barracks what would make their life easier, the answer was sewing machines, writes Helen Ward. Now more than 100 machines have been donated by local people to help the school set up sewing classes for the wives of the soldiers at Gamecock barracks. These three members of the famous regiment Prakash Gurung, Rayesh Rai and Dipendra Rai helped to deliver them. “We asked the army what we could do to get them involved in the community,” said Richard Turner, business and community development worker at the school. “They said that the wives of the Gurkhas would like to learn to sew. We have found a tutor and will run a six-week course. It helps to build relationships between the community and the barracks. It means that when soldiers go out to Afghanistan their families will have something to focus on here.”

Photograph: Tony Hardacre