A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD songwriter has been enlisted to write a council jingle about her favourite frog.

Marina Josephina Gears jumped to it when she woke up one morning with a song in her head about Freda the Frog - Stockton Borough Council's recycling mascot.

The seven-year-old quickly wrote down the words and tune while they were still fresh in her mind and proud dad Tony joined in on his guitar.

Town hall officials were so impressed when they heard the song they decided to adopt it as their jingle.

So Marina Josephina was whisked to a recording studio in Middlesbrough - Studio 64 - to make a CD of her song.

Her mother, Karen, said: "She is Freda the Frog mad. She is so enthusiastic about the whole thing.

"She has even written another very upbeat song about being green."

Other young fans of Freda the Frog can hear the song by downloading it from the website www.fredathe-frog.co.uk.