GAMES Workshop co-founder Ian Livingstone CBE has donated £30,000 to help gift schoolchildren in Bournemouth with computers.

The Fighting Fantasy author donated the sum through his foundation to provide youngsters without PCs with the technology to help them with online learning.

More than 100 children have benefitted so far with 132 computers allocated, and the kit also includes webcams and support to set up. A further batch of 43 computers are in the process of being distributed.

Mr Livingstone, who is set to open the Livingstone Academy in Bournemouth this September, collaborated with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which reached out to the local YMCA to ensure the computer kits supplied were handed out to the children who needed them most.

Mr Livingstone said: “I wanted my foundation to make a donation to a charity based in Bournemouth to deliver computers to disadvantaged children.

“I discussed this with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and they put forward a plan which would be operated by the local YMCA groups with whom they have worked before on similar projects.

“The pandemic has created a shift towards online learning over the last 12 months and has highlighted how important it is for children to have access to technology.

“For a child to be a true citizen of the 21st century they need to be in the driver’s seat, rather than the passenger seat of technology.”

Teenager Jasmine Summers, 13, sent a thank you note after receiving her computer and wrote: “The Raspberry Pi computer helps me to get my schoolwork done as well as learn how to program. This is a great experience, and I am very fortunate to have received one.’’

The parents of 10-year-old Evie also provided positive feedback having received a Raspberry Pi computer.

They said: “We just wanted to say how privileged we feel being given the computer which is already a huge hit. Evie will be able to complete school work and class zooms properly.”

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based charity that works to put the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.

Olympia Brown, of Raspberry Pi, said: “The computers are a personal gift from Ian Livingstone and we hope that the children who received them have been made to feel special and have felt that someone has taken an interest and care in their future.”