A SWINDON businessman is hoping to raise £50,000 to keep the lights on at the children’s charity his wife’s uncle started in India almost 50 years ago.

Father of three Phil Marshman is raising the money for Udayan, a charity that cares for 300 Calcutta slum children whose families suffer from leprosy.

The charity, which was started in 1970, provides education, accommodation and food and clothing to the children aged from four to 18. Five per cent of children at the centre suffer from leprosy.

Phil, 52, was inspired to launch his fundraising drive after a chance conversation with his wife’s uncle, Revd. James Stevens, last year.

“He said that funding is starting to run out and potentially parts of the facility would have to start closing down.

“That piqued my interest,” said Phil.

“I thought well, in business I know how to raise money, I’ve done charity collections - how different can it be?”

The software consultant, who has run his own businesses since leaving school, is hoping to raise £50,000 over 90 days and is donating £1,000 of his own money towards the campaign.

The money will go towards the charity’s annual running costs, which stand at £400,000.

To date the centre has been funded by one off donations and longer term funding from French author Dominique Lapierre and Australian cricketer Steve Waugh’s charitable foundation.

Phil is hoping to help the charity find more sustainable sources of funding in the future.

And he has plans to use his experience in the communications industry to help Udayan become a high-tech centre, teaching young people tech skills.

Phil says he plans to visit the Calcutta project next year.

At Udayan he’ll meet his wife’s uncle, James, a one-time successful businessman who travelled to India in 1968 and stayed.

Phil describes his uncle-in-law as an “unsung hero.”

He says James was inspired to set up Udayan after working closely with Mother Teresa.

"He travelled into the Calcutta slums in a van borrowed from the Roman Catholic missionary," he said.

Later he qualified as a priest and gathered up 11 children whose families had leprosy.

Phil said: “He went there on a mission to travel out to the slums and get a feel for what it was like.

“He discovered the plight of children who did not necessarily have leprosy themselves, but families who had leprosy but who couldn't look after them.”

Phil is now urging people to raid their penny jars and donate their loose change to support the campaign.

“I’ve looked in my penny jar and I’ve got almost £40,” he said. “The whole idea is to change that change into a smile.”

Donate to Phil Marsham’s Change for Smiles campaign at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/udayan.