A children’s story which was written more than 40 years ago by a mum has now been published to raise funds for charity.

Catharine Finch came up with The Adventures Of Harry The Hippo And The Magic Apple Trees  to keep her two young daughters entertained on long car journeys.

Catharine, 69, from Crawley said: “We used to pass a pick your own farm which had a large pink hippopotamus for children to play on, both our daughters used to look out for Harry and ask for another story.”

'We used to pass a Pick Your Own farm​ in Orpington' (Image: Google Maps)

She never thought to turn them to physical books but now her daughter Vicki, a teacher and a volunteer for the NSPCC’s School Service, has taken it upon herself to publish them to raise funds for the charity.

The NSPCC runs a Speak out Stay safe programme designed to protect children from abuse.

Vicki said:  “As volunteers delivering Speak out Stay safe workshops we use a story to teach the signs of abuse to primary school children in a child friendly way.

"When I started meeting the Year 2 children, I thought how wonderful it would be to share Mum’s books with primary school children too.”

Vicki got to work and last year she asked to borrow her mother's original notes on Harry The Hippo and investigated how to get the stories into print.

She added: “I started with Harry The Hippo And The Magic Apple Trees because I loved that one as a kid. Harry would always go on an adventure and learn a life lesson and I thought it would be an awesome way to team these protective factors through Mum’s stories.”

The book is now on sale on Amazon for £6.99 and all proceeds go to the NSPCC.

Vicki said: “Many tears and hugs were shared as Mum realised what I had achieved for her and what it means for the NSPCC as she has requested that all the proceeds go to the charity.”