BROWNIES in Golborne had a rare treat when they met one of the nation's favourite children's authors.

The excited youngsters crowded round to be enthralled by writer Jenny Oldfield -- whose pen name is Lucy Daniels.

She has written dozens of books for youngsters based on animals.

And her mass appeal has seen one of her books Home Farm Twins made into a TV programme.

But the girls at 1st Golborne St Thomas Brownies were not fazed by the high-profile author and got a chance to ask questions after she had read parts of her popular books to them.

The Yorkshire-born writer, who has two young daughters of her own, was visiting Golborne library to sign copies of her books.

She fascinated the children with her tales of visiting America to research a novel on ponies and of visiting an animal hospital to find material for another book.

The brownies in Golborne have also raised money to buy 52 dictionaries, encyclopaedias and storybooks for African villages and towns to help stock schools and libraries. They collected £163 in a second hand book sale and a sponsored reading event.

According to the charity Rotary International, books in Africa only have a lifetime of five years because of the heat and humidity.