A CHARITY that lends specialist equipment and toys to people with disabilities and special needs is celebrating a cash windfall from Gannett, the Advertiser's parent company.

The Learning Library, in Spennymoor, was launched in 1986 to support families who do not have access to specialist and often expensive equipment from ordinary toys to fibre optics.

Now they have been awarded a grant of £1,000 by the Gannett Foundation to help them to update their collection.

The scheme's outreach workers travel across Sedgefield, Wear Valley, Teesdale, Darlington and Easington taking equipment to the homes of 500 members free of charge.

Deputy co-ordinator Margaret Worsnop said: "We are very grateful for the grant, it will make a real difference to the service and to our clients. We have got all sorts of toys, just about everything, and often they can be very expensive, especially the sensory equipment. We constantly need to renew and update our stock."