IT all began with a church house group 15 years ago. About a dozen people from local churches met in a home in Amersham one evening and the discussion turned to the then current Ethiopian famine crisis. What could they possibly do to help?

The seed of an idea was born which bore fruit as the charity Workaid.

The idea was simple. Why not gather together people's old tools and machinery, mend them, and send them out to Africa where they would enable people to help themselves to a better life?

Workaid began with three volunteers, a few secondhand tools and not one request for help from developing countries.

Today, the Workaid charity celebrates its 15th year of work with a team of almost 200 volunteers and on average five requests for help every week.

Over the years they have sent out 60,500 hand tools, 3,300 sewing machines and 2,800 typewriters , all collected from the back of people's sheds and cupboards and carefully restored.

Sylvia Parrott, 57, now Workaid's overseas co-ordinator, has been a volunteer from the beginning. In visits to Africa she has seen first hand the difference our discarded tools can make.

She says: "I used to be a tailoress. When I first visited Kenya in 1989 I saw the huge difference the gift of sewing machines made to a project for disabled and disadvantaged youngsters. Before, they'd had no hope. But if you can give them some way of learning a living it is tremendous. Those sewing machines would be on the tip here. I came home and threw myself deeper into Workaid."

One person often in Sylvia's thoughts is a young man in Kenya, David Wonjobnyi, who is so severely disabled by polio that he crawls on his hands and knees or sits in his wheelchair.

"We sent him a sewing machine in 1994 and he began a dressmaking business in a mud hut next to his home, which was another mud hut.

"The second time I visited he was running a group called African Young Tailors and training others to sew. He's typical of a lot of the people we've helped. He is an inspiration, with such a strong faith and a positive approach to life."

At first Workaid sent tools worldwide, but couldn't keep up with demand. These days most are sent to long-term vocational training projects in east and south-central Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe), with which the charity has built up a relationship.

Some are self-help women's groups, some groups work with street children, war victims or widows, others are training centres for the disabled.

More than 120 volunteers work at the two-storey centre at St George's Industrial Estate, White Lion Road, Amersham, provided by Nycomed. Another 86 work nationwide, spreading word of Workaid and collecting goods, and there is one paid administrator.

Many at the centre are retired men with practical skills who sharpen chisel, repair hand tools, service sewing machines and typewriters, clean up horticultural tools. Others work in the office, while yet more are need in the packing department, making up orders for despatch overseas.

Ray Richards, administrator, says: "There are thousands of unused tools in this county doing nothing. If someone is clearing out a house, perhaps after a bereavement, it's not very easy to get rid of tools other than dumping them.

"Also, a lot of hand tools have been replaced by power tools.

"Yet people are often glad to know their unwanted goods will help others. We once picked up a treadle machine from an old lady in London, who patted it goodbye and said: 'Goodbye old friend.' She was delighted to know it would go where it would be treasured and bring hope for a better future for someone else."

Ray adds: "A carpenter's smoothing plane might cost £80 to £100 in Africa where they typically earn £10 to £20 a month."

Volunteers make up toolkits for various trades, including plumbing, carpentry, blacksmiths, masonry, metalwork, mechanics, electronics and horticulture.

An unusual continuing need is for old Gestetner duplicators, which can be operated manually without the need for a power supply. At a school in Kenya Sylvia saw six teachers sitting at a long bench writing out exam papers by hand with carbon paper for their pupils. We sent a duplicator which was a tremendous help."

While formed to help people overseas become self-supporting, Workaid has benefitted local people too, he says. As well as providing a place where many volunteers enjoying using their skills to help others, Workaid has helped several who were long-term unemployed or recovering from mental illness to become involved, leading on to paid work elsewhere. Best of all, say the volunteers, is knowing their work is turning unwanted tools into someone else's lifeline.