AN Elderly Testway tenant is using her talent for knitting to help children learn new skills and develop faster.

Mrs Penelope Hawkins, aged 89, of Michaelmas Drove in Weyhill knits story characters like the big bad wolf and friends to go into story sacks.

These large sacks contain a fictional book and knitted items related to the story.

The scheme is co-ordinated by Andover's Family Learning Project as part of the discovery sacks project, which already has sacks about history and other curriculum activities.

Mrs Hawkins has filled many sacks with different goodies including tropical fruits, a large spider, a chick, a duck and goose.

Paula Page, a family learning worker said: "The sacks are designed to bring books to life for children who might struggle with reading or those children not interested in books.

"These sacks are very very effective and we use them throughout pre-schools and schools."

Andover's Family Learning Project is looking to set-up a discovery sack library so children can take them home and read with their parents.