Did you spot a Ninja, Bob Marley or a bride pinned with money walking around the City of Hamilton?

Halloween did not come early and the costumed teachers from The Educational Centre (TEC) – an alternative programme for youth who have exhausted the traditional setting – were not playing a joke.

Instead they were trying to raise the $48,000 it will cost to take three teachers, one chaperone and 10 students to Ghana on an educational trip.

The group is not leaving until next March, but life-skills teacher Lucinda Worrell-Stowe, who wore her gown from her wedding six years ago, said they started fund-raising earlier this year to ensure they have enough for the trip.

She said: "We have been to Cuba, the US and to various other places and this (Ghana) is somewhere different for them. They really wanted to go somewhere they could learn about the culture."

She wore a wedding dress because "it can hold a lot of money and not only that, but it stands out. We want people to notice it and people to ask why we are walking around in the street".

"The trip is a cultural one and it's something we do every year. We try to show them a different environment. We started thinking about it on the third week of school in September."

As Mrs. Worrell-Stowe was speaking to The Royal Gazette, UBP MP Wayne Furbert stopped to do his part and wrote a cheque in donations to the cause.

All of the money will go towards three weeks in Ghana for the students next year and Mrs. Worrell-Stowe hopes anyone else interested in donating would contact her or the school.

She added: "Any donations to the Centre we would very much appreciate."

Contact her or the school's Director Declan Harris at 296 9759 or lucinda_worrell@hotmail.com.