15152/02GAZETTE & HERALD: YOUNG Georgina Tucker was thrilled to receive a letter from a child in Montenegro, a state in former Yugoslavia, who was given her Operation Christmas Child box.

Georgina, 10, is the first pupil at St Peter's Primary School in Chippenham to get a reply, and it is only the second reply in the six years the school has been running the appeal.

"The letter arrived really early in the morning and I couldn't wait to open it," Georgina said. "I was quite surprised because I wasn't expecting to hear back."

The letter came from a 10-year-old who was chuffed to receive Georgina's box stuffed full of colouring pencils, a hat, gloves, scarf, teddy bear and sweets.

"She is called Jelena and drew a picture of a Christmas tree with the pencils I sent," said Georgina. "At the bottom of the letter she wrote 'sorry my English is so bad'."

Georgina, of Bythebrook, Chippenham, is now planning to write back to Jelena and hopes they can become pen pals.

Sue Smith, head of St Peter's School in Lords Mead, said world issues were a big part of school life.

"We had a phenomenal response to the Operation Christmas Child appeal it's become one of the key points of the school calendar. The feedback we've had from the children has been amazing. They have said it was one of their favourite points of the year. The reply makes it more real for the children, and shows them that the boxes aren't just going off to some unknown place."