A DORCHESTER couple who opened a secondary school in Sudan have seen their fundraising efforts recognised with charity status.

Claire and Richard Budd’s Grace Secondary School project saw them raise over £100,000 to build and set up a school in the war-torn Nuba Mountains of southern Sudan.

The school was officially opened in May but the couple’s efforts are far from over as they continue to support the school and help with the annual running costs.

That job has been made easier with the formation of a new charity.

Under the name of Key to the Future, Claire and Richard will have help from the charity’s trustees .

They are Colin Brady, a charity expert who works for Churches Together in Dorset, Ron Jenkinson, headteacher of St Osmund’s Middle School, and Bob Cottell, managing director of international print management company IPP.

Richard said: “We’re so thrilled to get registered charity status and our fellow trustees have a wealth of experience that will help us with our fundraising.”

Claire added: “We just decided it would help us in terms of claiming Gift Aid and get bigger grants from other charities and that kind of thing.

“At the moment they really need our support, we hope they will become self sufficient but at the moment we want them to know we will be alongside them and we are there to support them.”

Claire said that the Key to the Future name meant that, once the Grace School was standing on its own two feet they could look at other educational projects.

The couple began fundraising after photographer Richard visited Sudan with Bishop of Sherborne Tim Thornton and Claire said she was astonished at how things had escalated since.

She said: “It’s been amazing, from the very start in August 2008 when we began fundraising with £200 in a chocolate box we never imagined we would be becoming a charity and everything else.

“We just wanted to help as we had seen the need and knew that other people would want to help when they heard the story as well.”

Claire said none of their achievements would have been possible without the generosity of Dorset residents who donated to the cause and she looked forward to their continued support in the future.

She said: “When we first started the recession was just around the corner and it could have been a complete disaster but people were even more generous.”