THREE children with a talent for verse wrote their way to treats for their mothers.

Pupils from primary schools in the Stanley area were asked to write a poem about what their mother meant to them in a Mother's Day poetry competition, sponsored by Asda.

The winner was ten-year-old Lauren Dickinson, a pupil at Tanfield Lea Junior School.

She won a bouquet of flowers for her mother and a £50 Asda shopping voucher.

Her mother, Tracy Dickinson, 39, of Harperly, said: "This is a brilliant Mother's Day present. I couldn't have asked for anything better."

Second place went to Amy Wilde, eight, also a pupil at Tanfield Lea.

Her mother Gillian Wilde, 40, said: "She has done really well. Her poem brought a tear to my eye."

Hayley Hall, ten, of St Mary's RC Primary School, in South Moor, was third.