A SCHOOL has piped aboard a special visitor - the captain of County Durham's adopted warship.

Captain Jerry Stanford and Commander Jeremy Rigby, of the amphibious assault ship HMS Bulwark, paid a short visit to the county - the last before Capt Stanford takes up a new posting.

One of his first ports of call was Trinity Special School, at Aykley Heads, Durham City. In April, a working party from the ship's crew spent four days at the school carrying out repairs and maintenance.

The work included re-laying uneven paving slabs, mending brick walls and fencing, painting an office, decorating a changing area and re-surfacing an all-weather play area.

The sailors also presented a £2,500 monitoring machine to the children's ward at Bishop Auckland Hospital that was bought with the proceeds from a successful attempt on the world 100,000m rowing machine record by the ship's Master at Arms, Dave Harris.

Links are also being forged with Seaham Sea Cadets, who are affiliated to HMS Brazen, County Durham's former adopted warship, until the vessel was de-commissioned and sold to the Brazilian Navy in 1996. Since then, the cadets have had no active affiliation with any serving Royal Navy ship.

Moves are under way to establish a link with HMS Bulwark.

Capt Stanford visited the cadets' headquarters and presented them with a plaque of the ship's crest and a framed photograph of its commissioning ceremony.

Capt Stanford also explored the drift mine at Beamish Museum, near Stanley.

He said the visit was short because of operational demands and added: "There was not enough time to renew our acquaintances with all of our friends in the county."