The shelves of a Southend primary school are groaning under the weight of a load of free books.

Thanks to ardent collecting by parents, friends, and relatives, Temple Sutton School has 129 new volumes.

More are on their way as headteacher Frank Gulley sends off the rest of the 30,000 free books for schools tokens he has amassed.

The Sun has named the school as one of its top collectors of tokens for free books for schools - it is the top collecting primary in the country.

The newspaper has linked up with Walkers crisps in the token promotion which has captured the imagination of thousands of people in the Temple Sutton area.

Mr Gulley said: "We have very supportive and resourceful parents. They have set up a massive network of people who are cutting vouchers from all the newspapers and crisp packets they can lay their hands on.

"We have 782 children in this school and although the Government has given us more money for books, it has not gone as far as it would have in a smaller school."

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