SWAMPED with teddy bears, badges, mugs and other mementoes of his big day, one brings the biggest smile of all. "You've earned these young man," says our pilot Craig McLeod as he hands five-year-old Owen Swift his wings.

The look of wonder on young Owen's face makes the whole day worthwhile.

Owen, who is airplane and helicopter mad, has just carried out a mission for the Butterwick Hospice, at Stockton.

After first enlisting the help of Northern Aviation, he took a golden baton to another children's hospice, the Eden Valley, at Carlisle.

Owen, who was left paralysed after he contracted a rare spinal inflamation at only ten-months-old, proudly said the baton will be passed on to all 33 of the UK's children's hospices as part of an awareness-raising initiative during the build-up to the Olympic Games.

None of the journeys that lie ahead for the baton will be as bumpy as the one from Teesside Airport to Carlisle Airport, which took place in strong winds.

Not that brave Owen complained, although he admitted he was "a very little bit scared" during the 25-minute journey.

When the plane landed, he met the Mayor of Carlise and handed over the baton containing letters from Butterwick and other hospices.

On the way home, Owen's mother, Rosie, her husband, Dave, Owen and his brother, Kyle, ten, who live in Coulby Newham, talked about the value of the Butterwick Children's Hospice.

Mrs Swift said: "We cannot get baby-sitters for Owen. Besides anything else, one of his lungs collapsed when he was three and he needs a ventilator every night.

"It gives us a break and you know he likes it and you know he is completely safe. You also know there is an emergency bed. I just do not know how the parents of the North-East who had children like Owen ever got through without it."

Meanwhile, the never-ending search to find the £600 needed each day to run the hospice, which looks after children from Newcastle to North Yorkshire, goes on. To help with funds, call (01642) 624231.