FUNDRAISERS have succeeded in buying a text phone for a Northallerton mother with speech difficulties.

Their campaign, supported by hundreds of computer learners, was to help mother-of-three Shelley Knights, who has no speech but carries a device which enables her to type out messages on a screen and show them to people.

"Shelley is a remarkable lady who has been finding new ways to overcome her disability," said Val Brown, a senior learning advisor at the Learndirect unit, run by Northallerton College in the Careers Centre in Northallerton High Street, and at the computer workshop at Bullamoor Primary School.

"Shelley comes to both places and they have opened up a new world for her with e-mails, message boards and buddy chat," said Mrs Brown.

"But she still needs a special phone to get in touch with friends and family quickly and, if necessary, contact emergency services."

When word of this got out at the Learndirect centre, friends and colleagues began fund-raising to buy the £450 phone.

It has a keyboard, screen and printer and will allow Shelley to type messages to an operator who will then pass them on in speech to the person she is calling - and vice versa.

"The campaign took off like a rocket," said Mrs Brown.