A GARAGE owner has completed his 13th charity mission to Romania and given a four-year-old girl the gift of hearing.

Mick Brooks, 58, who owns Doughty Brooks garage, off Oakworth Road, Keighley, returned last week from a trip which will result in little Toarga Costino Mariana being able to hear for the first time.

Mick, who is a member of Grassington-based charity Medical, Educational and Social Health (MESH), made the journey from England to Bucharest, on to Costino's home village of Obirsia and then to the hospital in Timisoara, with friend and fellow charity worker Frank Simpson.

The subject of their mission, the young girl who was born profoundly deaf, is now in hospital in Timisoara and has been fitted with hearing aids.

Mick says he would not have been able to make the trip without the support of his customers, who contributed to the £572 which was raised for the journey.

"I ran a scheme at the garage for my customers and they all contributed. I was telling the people who were coming in about the girl and they were donating fivers and tenners. It was great," says Mick.

Mick says he owes a big thank you to everyone who helped.

"When I first joined the charity somebody said it would change my life.

"I took that very lightly but it really does. It's a real eye-opener and a bit of a culture shock going out there. It pulls on the heart strings," he adds.