Young-at-heart elders from an African and Caribbean community group are bound for Barbados to soak up a fortnight of sun, sea and sentiment.

But the 22 holidaymakers - who all regularly meet up at the Guhlberg Day Centre in Little Horton and are all aged over 60 - need a generous helping hand to get there.

They are each paying their own way for the sunshine trip in the last week of November but they need to find £5,000 of sponsorship to fund four carers to take with them.

For many of the elders it will be the first time they have been back to the tropical islands since they left in the 1950s to find work in Bradford.

The oldest participant will be 84-year-old Egbert Wright.

Trip organiser Frank Barnett said the trip would be "an emotional experience" for everyone and added: "We're all mobile but can be a bit slow, which is why we need to have a team of carers to keep an eye on us.

"We can manage with just two carers but four would be ideal, the only thing is that it would cost around £5,000. We're really hoping someone who reads our story will want to help."

Mr Barnett, who at 67 is one of the youngest looking forward to the Caribbean adventure, left Jamaica in 1959 when he was 21.

"I came to Bradford to follow my sweetheart Uda. It was a journey worth-making because we've been married 40 years now," he said.

When he first arrived in Bradford he started work in a factory, then went into engineering, before going on the buses.

He returned to engineering until 1990 when he became a driver for the community group. Mr Barnett became a member of the group when he retired two years ago.

Since 1998, the community group, which calls itself FACE - Federation of African and Caribbean Elders - has been running annual trips away but the furthest it has ventured so far has been to Ireland.

"We've been to Torquay and Ireland but we wanted to go to Barbados this year because it's our group's 20th anniversary," said Mr Barnett.

During the fortnight, the group will be staying in a hotel in St Lawrence, lapping up a life of luxury.

"We'll be visiting old friends and relatives, generally chilling," he said. "We've even got a member who's going to do us a bit of tai chi on the beach."

FACE centre manager Claudia MacFarland said: "Everyone's talking about the tip. They can't wait to get there."

Anyone who can help should contact Claudia or Angela Goodall at FACE on (01274) 391147.