THE elderly were given an early Christmas present from school pupils on Friday after they delivered handmade hampers to the community.

About 35 hampers were made by Staindrop School as part of their annual festive activities.

And more than 100 year 7 pupils got stuck into the task which required taking food donated by their parents and making them into the hampers using their best creative skills.

Parents donated everything from cupboard staples such as rice and pasta up to Christmas luxuries such as chocolates and first, second and third prizes were awarded for the finished baskets.

But the job wasn’t finished there as the pupils then personally delivered the hampers to elderly residents in the village as well as those in neighbouring communities in Cockfield, Evenwood and West Auckland.

The school’s e-learning coordinator, Lisa Johnstone, said the morning had been a huge success.

“We put a plea out to parents by text and on our website for non perishable items and then got some boxes and divided the children up into teams so it was to develop their team work,” she said.

“The old people we delivered to did not know so it was very touching because some of them did not realise what was going on and we put a little card on saying ‘Happy Christmas from Staindrop School’.”