A BEST-SELLING Northumberland novelist has donated laptops to a North Tyne school to help struggling students get online.

Thriller writer LJ Ross donated seven new laptops to Newbrough Church of England Primary School after a plea from the chair of governors Mary Pedley.

On the donation Ross said: "The pandemic has impacted people in numerous ways and one has been to highlight the gap between children whose families have good quality internet and learning devices, such as laptops and iPads at home, and those who don’t.

"Through my publishing imprint, Dark Skies Publishing, we have already been working on pilot initiatives to address the ‘disadvantage gap’ between children in education in the North-East and when we saw the call from Newbrough Primary School for second hand laptops, we knew we could offer some new chrome books to assist.

"It’s a drop in the ocean, but every bit helps, and I applaud the wider initiatives going on to encourage the repurposing of old laptops for children where, unfortunately, there has been a delay or government shortfall in the number of devices needed to meet the demand.

"It’s a community effort and Hexham is part of my community.”

The school now has sufficient equipment for pupils and is extremely grateful for the generous donation.