Midlands Today presenter Sarah Falkland will be celebrity guest at the Warwick Family Race Day on August Bank Holiday Monday.

Sarah, who is Ambassador of the Leamington charity Cord, will be mingling with race goers at what is traditionally the course’s busiest meeting of the racing calendar.

She will be keeping a keen eye on riders and runners in the special Cord race and encouraging punters to support the charity’s work with young refugees from Darfur.

‘I’m really looking forward to a great day out,’ said Sarah. ‘As well as the racing there will be plenty of entertainment to keep the children amused off track, so I hope families from across the region will come along, maybe have a flutter, and support what is a very worthwhile cause.’

Free attractions for children include a circus workshop, face painting, Derby Hoppers, the Big Red Bus as well as a bouncy castle, boxing ring and giant slide.

The first race on Monday 31 August is at 2pm and special Family Experience tickets at £20 give two adults entrance to the main enclosure plus free access for children 16 and under. Free ice cream for up to 6 children is also part of the deal! To book your package or reduced price individual tickets at just £7 call the Cord ticket hotline on 01926 315301 by Friday 28 August.

Toilet Twinners from Sacramento to Tasmania, from Palermo to Kuwait, have signed up to the World’s First Toilet Twinning.

The global initiative launched by UK based charity Cord twins loos in the developed world with latrines in the African bush.

Some 500 twinners are now actively engaged in this novel campaign to improve sanitation for Burundian families returning home after years in exile.

The next exclusive set of 600 latrines in remote Giharo Commune are now available to twin.

All twinners pay just £60 for a picture of their latrine and the coordinates to track its exact location via Google Earth. Find out more on our micro-site http://www.toilettwinning.org/

It is with great sadness that we report the sudden death of David Majagira, Cord’s former Country Director in Burundi at the age of 46.

David, who was Congolese, had spent his working life in the humanitarian field, specialising in relief and development first in his homeland and later in Albania, Zimbabwe, Chad and finally Burundi.

He joined Cord in 2008 from the International Medical Corps in Chad and was instrumental in implementing a major part of our programme in Giharo Commune, Rutana Province, Burundi until he rejoined IMC earlier this year.

‘David was a man of great strengths,’ said Cord’s Chief Executive Brian Wakley. ‘Under his leadership our work in Burundi moved up a gear and we are enormously grateful for his contribution to what is proving to be a very successful programme, affecting the lives of hundreds of people returning from exile.’

‘Even when David moved on to IMC he kept in close contact with our team on a professional level and we are proud to have known him,’ he added.

David leaves a wife and daughter.