FERVENT monarchist Anita Atkinson was amazed when the full extent of her passion was revealed.

Anita, a magistrate and school governor from Harperley, near Crook, County Durham, spent the weekend with a team of helpers cataloguing and counting her collection of royal souvenirs, which she thinks could be the biggest collection in the world.

She uprooted the hoard of pictures, books, trinkets and plates she normally displays around the house and crammed them into a borrowed builders' van to transport them to Ireshopeburn Institute, in Upper Weardale, to support villagers' efforts to build a children's play area.

Visitors pored over the collection as Anita made her bid for inclusion in the Guinness Book of Records.

Auctioneer and estate agent David Coulson, from Broadley and Coulson, acted as verifyer and Weardale residents Diana Sutcliff and Peter Bowes vouched for the authenticity of each exhibit.

The final total of 1,781 items far exceeded Anita's estimate. She said: "I thought there were about 1,200 so it was a big surprise.

"It has taken hours because every list had to be hand-written and it will be some time before I will know whether it has been accepted as a record.