PUPILS in Port Glasgow got in on the act with one of the country’s best-loved TV stars to help with their studies.

Deirdre Davis, who played Eileen Donachie in BBC soap River City for 14 years, recently visited Port High to share her experiences of meeting families facing extreme hunger in Malawi.

The actress, who bowed out of the show last year, met with first year pupils to talk about her trip with international development charity Tearfund Scotland, who are working in the African country to help communities struggling because of severe droughts and food shortages.

Youngsters at the school have been learning about life in developing countries as part of their modern studies classes and left their special guest pleasantly surprised with their breadth of knowledge.

Deirdre, who starred in River City from its launch in 2002, said: “It was great to be able to share some of what I witnessed first-hand with the pupils at Port Glasgow High School.

“I was very impressed with the insightful questions I was asked. 

“I know they have been learning about international development and I hope sharing with them some of the real life examples of people I met will help them to build up more of a picture of what life is like in countries such as Malawi.”

The actress told the Port students about one family Deirdre met, who were so hungry they were forced to feed their children pig food.

Deirdre said: “Malawi changed my perspective in ways I never expected. People back home often say they are hungry, maybe sometimes even ‘starving’, but the people I met were actually physically starving because many of them had not eaten at all that day, or were only going to be able to have one meal to see them through.

“The hardest bit was meeting the children and knowing they were so hungry.”

But the former Shieldinch resident also explained how the charity is helping families.

Deirdre said: “People are learning to fight hunger through learning to farm better, or joining with others in the community to start new businesses and find alternative sources of income. I met lots of people whose lives have really been transformed and it was very inspiring.”

Port High head teacher Stuart Clark said: “The S1 modern studies pupils enjoyed Deirdre’s talk and had lots of excellent questions for her. It was very kind of her to spend so much time assisting with our pupils’ learning.”