A Manchester based organisation is being praised for saving the lives of thousands of children in war torn countries.

Forner war correspondent Martin Bell says without the work of MAG - the Mines Advisory Group  - then many more would have been killed. And he said the work that the organisations does is Manchester's best kept secret.

“Unless it is dealt with, the curse of unexploded ordnance and landmines will haunt people’s children and grandchildren for many years to come. Besides taking mines out of the ground MAG teaches children landmine awareness as, in at least 20 countries, this is the most important thing for them to learn before they can even walk.

“I firmly believe that good things happen because people make them happen and bad things happen because people let them happen. MAG makes good things happen,” Martin said.

MAG’s directors and staff met some of the region’s mayors, including Lord Mayor of Manchester Councillor Alison Firth, leading business figures and journalists during the celebration of 20 years of vital clearance operations in some of the world’s most volatile countries.

Chief Executive of MAG Lou McGrath OBE set up MAG’s first office in a caravan in Cockermouth with his brother in 1989 after witnessing the horrific impact on people from landmines in Afghanistan.

Just before her death in August 1997 MAG had been working with Princess Diana to raise awareness of the terror caused by remnants of conflict to communities all over the world struggling to recover from war.

MAG, which has always been based in the northwest, also became co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for helping bring about the Mine Ban Treaty, which banned the manufacture and use of anti-personnel landmines.

John Pickford has been taking a look at some of the deadly devices found in war zones and talking to the organisation's director of operations.

John Pickford