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Hampshire girl, 10, praised for care home pen pal letter movement

Power of the pen: Isla Elworthy with her first care home letter

THE lockdown movement which has seen hundreds of children become pen pals with care home residents through the power of letter writing can be traced to a 10-year-old schoolgirl who dreamed up the initiative.

Isla Elworthy, from Hampshire, has been credited with sparking the success of projects such as My Dear New Friend, which encourages people to offer friendships with the elderly and has received backing from the Duchess of Cornwall.

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Rocky the orphaned Rhino in safe hands with famed Zimbabwe family

Anne Whittall out on a regular walk with Rocky

I couldn’t sell this one for the national papers – and was too good to spike.

Sleeping on an electric blanket with makeshift overhanging branches to make it feel secure, a days old baby rhino has been reared at home by a septuagenarian from Zimbabwe after it was spotted and saved from a mud hole with one nostril protruding from it.

Attempts to reunite the nine-day old baby calf with its mother took place last month in Zimbabwe’s Save Valley, one of the largest private game reserves in Africa.

But after a large scale operation to help the critically endangered species in its natural habitat, Anne Whittall, a 78-year-old well known for rearing local wildlife, has now taken in the rhino.

Its story of survival has seen the rhino named ‘Rocky’ after the heavyweight boxer.

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