Thanks to the donation of a Variety, Children’s Charity Sunshine Coach, Applefields School in York now has a brand new sunshine coach to replace its old one, which had come to the end of its travelling days.

The coach was presented to the school by Yorkshire-based charity, the PPR Foundation Brain Tumour Research Project, which was founded by Pam Roberts after the death of her husband from a brain tumour. Its mission is simple: to ask one million people to donate £1 each, raising a total of £1m to pay for research into one of the most poorly-funded fields of medicine.

George Gilmore is head teacher of Applefields School, which caters for pupils aged between 11 and 19 years old, who have a wide range of special needs. He said: “Our old Variety coach had done sterling work but with many miles on the clock the minibus was very ‘tired’. We are absolutely thrilled with the new sunshine coach and the children were over the moon when it arrived.”

He added: “We use the transport extensively to enrich the lives of our pupils including residential holidays, PE and sports activities and transport to and from our local further education colleges. We are very grateful to Pam Roberts and Variety for their generosity and on-going support.”