For 50 years, people from across Oxfordshire have been helping poor communities overseas through international development charity Voluntary Service Overseas.

And the charity is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month by making a fresh appeal for volunteers to come forward.

Oxford's David Brown was the first person sent overseas by the charity.

Today, 68-year-old Mr Brown, a former curator of the Ashmolean Museum, runs Oxbow Books and lives in Summertown.

But back in May, 1958, he was a fresh-faced teenager looking for adventure and about to embark on an 18-month teaching trip to Sarawak in Borneo. However, if National Service had not been abolished the same year, he would never have set the ball rolling for VSO.

He said: "I'd been planning for National Service all my life and had a place at university for 1960.

"When National Service was scrapped, I tried to get into university early, but they said 'tough luck' because everybody was trying that game."

Through his school he met with Alec Dickson, the founder and inspiration behind VSO. Mr Dickson's brother had been working in Sarawak. Mr Brown said: "They saw the potential of young people working in schools and local development projects.

"I was placed in a mission school called St Luke's to help with teaching. One of their teachers was coming to England for a year, which was very unusual 50 years ago, and I was put in the school to replace him.

"I was straight out of school myself - in fact, I was younger than most of my students."

As part of VSO's celebrations, Mr Brown is planning a return to Sarawak in July, when he hopes to be reunited with some of his former students, one of whom he spoke to on the phone last week for the first time in 50 years.

He said: "The biggest change I have noticed is that in the early days they chose volunteers with enthusiasm and it didn't matter whether you had qualifications or experience.

"Nowadays, VSO is much more concerned with having people who have qualifications - they want nurses, teachers, engineers and people with IT skills."

Today, VSO has employs volunteers in 34 countries across the world, mostly in Africa and Asia, working in a variety of education, health and engineering projects.

VSO is planning events across the UK to celebrate its anniversary, including a celebration at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on Saturday.