A GENEROUS youth worker put aside her own needs at Christmas to come to the aid of some special children.

Marilyn Shemmings could have asked for a trip to the Bahamas, a health spa retreat or a wardrobe full of new clothes, but instead she opted for a much-needed computer for Portland Special School, in Sunderland.

And staff at the city's Bridges Shopping Centre were more than happy to grant her request as part of their Christmas Wishes campaign.

Youth support worker and mother-of-three Mrs Shemmings, from Sunderland, submitted the wish to give the school a new computer and imaging software.

The Portland School, in Doxford, opened in 2001 and has 165 students aged 11 to 19.

Headteacher Jennifer Chart said: "We are delighted. It is so nice of Marilyn to think of the school like this.

"We have some lovely people in our community who think of the children and we want to thank Marilyn for putting us forward."

The school is planning to use the computer as part of its music therapy programme, which encourages even the most severely disabled children to respond to music.

Mrs Chart said: "With the help of the computer, the children can create basic compositions. We have a sound beam which is like an invisible beam of light, and when it is broken up by movement, it creates different sounds. We have children in wheelchairs who have no voluntary movement, but when we use a sound box, their wheelchairs vibrate and they hear different sounds."