THE charitable efforts of five-year-old Esther Harflett were not quite enough to see her pick up a national award on Friday evening in Manchester.

Esther, who attends Holy Trinity Academy in Calne, was shortlisted in the Inspirational Young Person category at the deaf charity Signature’s annual awards after raising money with a sponsored spellathon in sign language.

Despite being beaten to the top prize, Esther was still given the opportunity to appear on stage, meet BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty and received a certificate of achievement.

Mum, Kate Harflett, said: “It was such a late night, but a wonderful experience and the girls were an absolute pleasure to spend the evening with. Esther's eight-year-old sister, Keziah, was super proud of her little sister.

“We were proud of them both and over 100 friends and family 'liked' my Facebook post about it which was incredible. There was so much love and support for Esther.”

Esther raised over £300 for the National Deaf Children’s Society back in April after she was unable to donate her piggy bank savings to a charity representative who visited her home.