VOLUNTEERS from a Swindon charity cut short their expedition to The Gambia on Saturday as fears of civil unrest took hold in the wake of the former president’s refusal to hand over power to his newly-elected successor.

The team from Empower The Gambia, had been due to stay for 12 days, taking with them bikes for healthworkers, children’s clothes and educational material. But they flew back in the early hours of Saturday.

Jo Heaven, who led the group of six, said the scariest part of the journey was actually on the drive home from the airport when their minibus suffered a flat tyre on the M4 in zub-zero temperatures.

She said when they flew out the Sunday before there were no warnings. But during the trip they contacted Thomas Cook twice a day to keep up to date with developments. With no news they continued up-country to the village of Sara Kunda.

Jo said “I knew that the village would be safer than the tourist area if anything went wrong and certainly did not want to wait around the airport until we had a confirmed flight as this would be where ex-President Jammeh would leave from.

"The team were wonderful and their skills and practical experience shone through.”

“I was glad we did it. We knew they were going to get the tourists out first,” she said.

However on Wednesday, when they checked with the travel agent, they were told they would need to get back to the airport to catch a flight on the Friday.

“On Friday it was very calm in the airport. There weren’t many tourists. It was interesting. We could see the United Nations plane and the plane that came from Mauretania.”

It was that aircraft that eventually carried Yayah Jammeh into exile.

Jo, who has been visiting the country for nearly nine years and set up the charity in 2013, said although the visit was cut short, they still managed to carry out some of what they had planned.

The bikes, which had been repaired by Recycles in Swindon, were given to the first of 12 health workers who currently travel from the village health centre to their own villages by foot.

The community librarian was given resources and training by one of the volunteers, whilea solar panel and batteries were handed over to a poultry project and goodie bags were given to 25 sponsored children.

One of the team, a community nurse in Swindon, visited remote clinics and helped with a vaccination programme.

The charity, which has Emporium of Loveliness boutiques in Swindon and Marlborough, hopes to go out again and finish its projects as soon as flights to The Gambia resume.