MID Cheshire College student Annabel Ballance visited Africa to show pupils how to fashion dresses from unwanted items.

Annabel, who studies fashion, travelled to Guguletu in Cape Town with a team from The Whitby High School to make simple summer dresses from pillowcases for pupils at Sokhanyo Primary School.

Annabel, who is in her second year at college, created and led the project alongside her team and a group of learners from the local high school in Guguletu.

The team’s aim was to focus on using unwanted items and encourage learners to make products to sell to the community to improve self-sustainability.

The team presented the primary school children with 40 pillowcase dresses they had created and left the learners from I.D Mkize High School with the skills to continue making their own.

This was not the first time Annabel had been to Cape Town - on her previous trip she taught at the local high school with her mother, who is a teacher at The Whitby High School.

Annabel said: “These school visits are so important because we are educating the children and showing them they don’t have to buy clothes because they can recycle.”

She has already applied to continue her studies at university, but is saving up to return Africa again this summer.

She added: “I really enjoy teaching; it’s something I want to do in the future.’

Annabel attended The Whitby High School before joining Mid Cheshire College, and students and teachers from The Whitby High School, together with students from ID Mkhise High, worked alongside students from Siviwe School of Skills in Guguletu to create the dresses.