ART and design student Louise Elliott is celebrating after winning the regional finals of a competition for young engineers with her design for an all-terrain wheelchair for a girl with cerebral palsy.

Louise, 18, of Dacre Banks, near Harrogate, was overall winner in the regional finals of the Young Engineer for Britain competition which is organised by the Engineering Council.

Louise had financial help from York Children's Trust, Harrogate Lions and Scope to make the motorised wheelchair, which will now help seven-year-old Nadia, a friend of the family, to get around.

Louise, a student at St Aidan's and St John Fisher associated sixth form, said: "It's just amazing, it's hard to take in.

"It took eight months of hard work. It's taken over my life but it was worth it for Nadia."

Nick Pollard, director of Railtrack London North-Eastern, which sponsored the awards, presented at the National Railway Museum, in York, said: "It's a fabulous day to see so much young intellect."

PICTURE: CELEBRATING: Louise on her bug

Picture: Steven Bradshaw