THE spirit of African enthralled at a charity night to help orphans in Malawi.

More than 50 people went along to an African evening at St Elizabeth Hall, which began with a welcome drink of amarula, a liqueur known as the spirit of Africa, which was donated by the Cambridge Wine Shop, followed by an African buffet dinner.

After dinner the guests were led in a drumming circle and there was a charity auction with donated prizes, including an African village cake and tickets to Salisbury Race Course, and a raffle.

The evening raised more than £2,000 for Ellotte Future Building, a charity founded by Sarah McCombe, who splits her time between Salisbury and Nkhata Bay in Malawi.

She has been in Salisbury for the last few months raising awareness of the charity and trying to find sponsors.

She said: “I am happy to say we now have 20 children sponsored so a big thanks to everyone who has donated and you will be receiving information about your sponsored child soon.”

Miss McCombe also wanted to raise funds to build a day centre where older children can go and learn practical skills from carpentry and farming to IT, and the success of the African means there is now almost enough to build the day centre.

Anyone interested in helping the charity or donating can visit ellottefuture.org or email sarah@ellottefuture.org .