THE generosity of David Walliams has inspired schoolgirl Lois Wakeling to push ahead in her goal of becoming an author.

Award-winning children's author Walliams kindly organised a ticket for nine-year-old Lois, of Newcastle, for the sold out signing of his latest book The Ice Monster in Forum Books, Corbridge, after hearing she was unable to travel down to his signing in London due to illness.

After tickets for the Corbridge event sold out within two hours of going on sale, Lois' parents decided to book up for Walliams' appearance at Waterstones in Piccadilly, London, and booked trains and a hotel for overnight stay to make a day of it.

However, the trip was cancelled on the morning of the event as Lois woke up with a sickness bug and wasn't well enough to travel.

Knowing how devastated Lois would have been that she missed out on the chance to meet her idol, Lois' mother Luisa asked her two younger sisters, who live in London, if they could go along to get a copy of the book so Lois would still have a Christmas present to remember.

When Luisa's sisters mentioned to Walliams the story of Lois' inability to attend, he immediately hooked the Wakeling family up with an extra ticket for Corbridge to make sure she didn't miss out.

Luisa said: "Lois is a huge fan of David Walliams, and she has all his books so we thought it was worth going down to London when we couldn't get a ticket for Corbridge.

"But we didn't want to move her when she woke up unwell on Saturday, and it felt as if we had lost out.

"So it was brilliant what David did, and Lois is over the moon and she's been so happy ever since. She mentioned to him who she was at the signing, and he gave her a high five, and she just loved it all.

"We are really thankful for what he did. It was such a lovely thing to do, and we couldn't believe what happened in the end!"