THIS tired and dusty Massey Ferguson tractor is now, I'm told, gleaming and good as new and ready for use. It was bought two years ago by the Worcester diocese, in a poor state of repair, and it had been agreed that the students at Moreton Morrell agricultural college would undertake the rebuilding of the tractor as part of their course work.

They have now transformed it. Tim Hutchinson, on the staff of the college, has supervised the project, and he and one of the students involved in the work will soon be travelling to Tunguli village, in the Tanzania diocese of Morogoro, to hand it over to the villagers and to advise them on its maintenance. They will also be taking a trailer and a plough.

The dioceses of Worcester and Morogoro have long had a friendship link, but this project has also been helped by a small independent charity, Mission Morogoro, whose supporters undertook the purchase and the cost of the restoration, the purchase of the disc plough, and the considerable cost of transporting them to Tanzania.

The chairman of the Morogoro Task Group in the diocese, Canon John Green, says: "We are thrilled that this tractor project has been the catalyst for bringing so many people together, and for the deepening links between our two dioceses."

The tractor should make an enormous difference to the lives of the Tunguli villagers. The Bishop of Worcester, Dr John Inge, will bless it at Moreton Morell College on 23 March, when all who have been involved will be present, and the tractor, trailer, and plough will be shipped out to Tanzania to arrive at the end of June, when they will be presented to the village.