THE family of Petersfield tsunami victim Charlotte Jones has travelled to Thailand to meet the first children being supported by a fund set up in her name. Charlotte's mum and dad, Alan and Liz Jones, and her sister, Vicki, set up 'Char's fund' to provide educational bursaries for children living in the areas torn apart by the devastating tsunami of Boxing Day 2004. A whopping £43,000 has been raised so far, and £37,000 of this has already gone directly to Muang Phuket School. "The trip was amazing and we met the children over an idyllic Thai lunch in a restaurant overlooking Chalong Bay, Phuket," said Alan. "It was a most heartening occasion. "Our Thai was non-existent and the children's English hesitant, so we had to rely on a local Kiwi as translator." He added: "The children, like us, were a bit nervous at first, but the setting helped to make us all much more relaxed quite quickly. And when the smiles and laughter began, it was a most uplifting experience." Mr Jones added: "The teachers said that we probably had no real idea what a difference the scholarships were making and that it might be a good idea next time to meet some of the parents." Alan told The Herald that Char's Fund hoped to sponsor two more children from next month. Just before the family left for Thailand, Alan ran the Reading half-marathon in aid of the fund, raising nearly £7,000. "The run has been cold and windy in previous years and it looked like that again until the sun came out and the wind dropped – perfect running conditions," Alan came in at two hours 25 minutes in a huge field of 14,000 runners. The next major fundraising event on the calendar for supporters of Char's Fund will be Onion Fest 2007 on Saturday, July 28. Anyone who would like to contribute to Char's Fund can e-mail Alan on [email protected]">[email protected], or call him on 01730 265718. The group is also hoping to set up a Friends of Char's Fund scheme so that supporters can set up a standing order if they wish. The friends would receive regular e-mails and letters, as well as a quarterly newsletter.