WHEN a Hereford charity reached out to one of the county’s top horticultural companies, farmers in Gambia felt the benefit.

That’s how Concern Universal (CU) works and, this week, it earned one of the biggest accolades in the world of international aid.

The link that CU made with Ledbury-based Haygrove secured the International Aid and Development award at the charity awards in London last Thursday.

It was a win that took in CU’s overall approach to work in the developing world, which ranges from boosting incomes to providing clean water.

Dr Ian Williams, CU executive director, told the Hereford Times that the award was a “tremendous testimony” to the dedication and effectiveness of his team.

“We had to demonstrate how we achieve excellent standards in all that we do and it is a great confidence boost that we won the award because of this,” said Dr Williams.

The collaboration with Haygrove on the “Gambia is Good” project was chosen as the charity’s presentation, showing the way both worked to ensure Gambia’s rural poor got a stake in country’s burgeoning tourist trade. Around 1,000 Gambian farmers are involved so far.

To the judges, Gambia is Good represented an “example of excellence” from which other charities could learn.

Haygrove director John Berry said the scheme was a model example of what business and charity could do together.

Mr Berry pledged Haygrove’s continuing technical and management support to the project.

Concern Universal came to Hereford in 1999 and has its offices off West Street.