A SWEET shop owner is taking a taste of Helmsley life to children in Uganda when she visits to help great ape conservation efforts.

Lynn Hempsall, who runs the Helmsley Traditional Sweet Shop, had never travelled alone or outside Europe when she embarked on her first self-funded trip to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Borneo in 2015.

She is now visiting for a second time to volunteer in a schools and conservation project and will pass on letters written by Helmsley Community Primary School pupils following a talk she did at the school.

Ms Hempsall said: “I feel so excited so be heading back to Uganda.

“When I first signed up to go to Borneo three years ago, I didn’t know if I was mad.

“But it has always been my dream to see great apes in the wild – and when you really let yourself understand that in 20-years there may be none left, I felt I had to do something, even if it took me well out of my comfort zone.”

The great apes are at risk of extinction due to the logging and deforestation of their habitat.

To help provide more for the communities, and to support the wildlife in Uganda, people have also donated money so Ms Hempsall can buy exercise books and sanitary items for the pupils once she arrives.

Ms Hempsall is also asking if people would like to donate £1.50 to buy a tree which the children in Uganda will plant as conservation to preserve the gorillas and chimps.

Anyone wishing to donate should pop in to the Helmsley Traditional Sweetshop, which is on Barkers Yard, or email helmsleysweetshop@gmail.com