The Chemistry Department at Burleigh Community College has an unexpected problem - how to use £290 worth of vouchers donated by staff at Loughborough's AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood.

The vouchers, issued by Fisher Scientific to customers placing orders, were collected by staff working in AstraZeneca's Medicinal Chemistry Department who agreed that instead of using them they would give them to the local college.

Mr Lea Toone, Head of Science at Burleigh College, said the donation had come as a welcome surprise but staff in the Chemistry Department had not yet decided whether to use them to purchase laboratory glassware or to replace consumables.

"We are very grateful to the staff in AstraZeneca's Medicinal Chemistry Department for their generosity" he said.

A spokesman from AstraZeneca's Medicinal Chemistry said "staff had collected the vouchers for several months" The students taking science at Burleigh College will be the research scientists of the future, he said, the department was happy to help support science education.

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