A TEACHER from St Cuthbert's Community High School in Sutton will bid farewell to his pupils on Saturday, June 2, as he sets off on a mission of care to Georgia, part of the former Soviet Union.

PE teacher, Mr Rob Houghton has been asked by the charity 'Operation Christmas Child', which has been running for over 5 years, to spend time visiting orphanages and schools in deprived areas.

And pupils at the school have been generously supporting the national initiative to help underprivileged orphans and refugees in Georgia, one of the poorest countries in the southern-most tip of the former USSR.

In a warm gesture of friendship, students have been donating small gifts and writing letters to their Georgian counterparts in a bid to show them that people across the world still remember them.