THIS week, 15 years ago, a young girl was the envy of her friends when she won a giant Easter egg.

Hemlington Hall Primary School pupil Charlotte Woodier correctly guessed that it took 127 chocolate bars to make the 3ft egg.

The seven-year-old, who was presented with her prize at Middlesbrough's Hillstreet Centre, said: "I was shocked when I found out I had won, because I did not think I had the right answer. I am going to share it with my friends, so it will probably only last two days."

Her mother, Jane, said: "It is so big she can only put her arms around a quarter of it,

“But she could hardly believe it when she first found out and was speechless for about four hours - something that is very rare."

Meanwhile a band of rugby players took to the streets wearing pink and lavender tutus in a charity stunt for Butterwick Hospice.

Members of Shildon Town Rugby Football Club were blindfolded and bundled into taxis outside the Three Tuns pub, Shildon, and driven to undisclosed locations where they were left to find their own way back without money or means of communication.

Pub landlord Billy Drennan raised £200 when team-mate Steve Oxenham sponsored him on the spur of the moment to dance down the main street and finish off with a pirouette.

Sylvia Stoneham, of the hospice, praised the rugby players for the huge effort they put into the event, raising at least £4,000.

She said: "It is fantastic that some of them even volunteered to have their chests waxed when they got back."

And hundreds of store workers were relieved to find their jobs would be safe when Sainsbury's sold its Stockton Savacentre store to rival supermarket chain Tesco.

All 350 employees that worked at the former Sainsbury’s store on Durham Road were offered jobs with Tesco.

Jane Holland, a regional organiser with the shop workers' union, USDAW, said: "We are pleased that jobs are being saved, and we have excellent working relations with Tesco.”

A Tesco spokesman said: "We have been looking for a suitable site in Stockton for a long time. We are delighted we could do this and not have to start with a completely flat site.”