THEIR playing fields are just a patch of grass covered with stones.

The facilities at a school in a poverty-stricken South African township are a world of difference from the state-of-the-art facilities at Hamble Community Sports College.

They have so few resources that they even use garden chairs to sit in their classroom.

But through the wonders of technology, the two schools were able to share in a major sporting occasion.

Hamble's Year 10 students organised a Fitness is Fun Festival for feeder school pupils from Hamble, Netley and Bursledon.

The all-day event included swimming, football, ballroom and Latin American dancing, athletics and games.

And it coincided with a similar festival of sport being held at Ferndale School in Durban.

Because there is only one hour's time difference between the two countries, the schools were able to keep up with each other's progress,

There was a flurry of e-mails between Hamble and Durban during the day and also a radio link-up.

The bond has been growing for some time between the two schools and Hamble

college chiefs have visited Ferndale.

Mandy Quill, Hamble college's partnership development manager, said that the next project would be to raise enough money to bring two students from Ferndale to Hamble.