A primary school pupil from a Melksham village has won first prize in a letter writing competition run by Royal Mail.

Ellie Bennetts, 10, beat off stiff competition from pupils at schools across the region to take the top prize.

Youngsters were asked to write to their 1st Class Hero and Ellie wrote to British 800m indoor record holder, Jenny Meadows.

Ellie wrote about how she was inspired to take up running after seeing Jenny in action.

Shaw Primary School had even more success with Ellie’s three schoolmates, Robin Smith, Kira Wrintmore and Josh Brain all bagging runner-up spots.

Judges were impressed by the standard of entries and had a really difficult task to pick just one winner in the categories.

Royal Mail Manager, Nadia Mouton, who visited school last Wednesday to present the prizes, said: "Ellie has written a lovely letter to hero Jenny Meadows who has evidently inspired her to become an athlete.

“These were well written letters and they were all beautifully presented, making judging extremely difficult.

“The four youngsters and Shaw Primary School should be very proud of their achievement.”

The competition encouraged children to write a letter with a purpose to their hero or heroine, demonstrating imagination and creativity within a basic letter format.