A 10-year-old Sligo girl received a very special gift after writing to singer Ed Sheeran.
Lily O'Brien addressed her letter 'Ed Sheeran, singer of Galway Girl, London'.
She was delighted to not only get a response from the star, but also a surprise gift - a handmade guitar.
As her mother Amanda explained to Lunchtime Live, it wasn't the first time time Lily had reached out to someone famous.
She explained: "Lily has dyslexia, and she finds writing particularly difficult. After discussion with her teacher, we decided to try to teach her to type.
"When Ryan Tubridy got COVID, she wanted to type him a letter to wish him well and send him a get well card. And she did.
"Two or three days later, Ryan wrote back a little postcard thanking her for her letter."
After that successful correspondence, Lily decided she wanted to write to more famous people.
'He wasn't in the phone book'
The decision to write to Ed Sheeran specifically was made after seeing a TV documentary about the singer-songwriter's work in Africa.
Amanda said: "He wasn't in the phone book... but [Lily] came up to me and said 'he sings the Galway Girl and nobody else does, and he lives in Europe'.
"The rest was up to whoever else... even the girl in the post office was laughing, saying it'd be lucky if it left Sligo."
A few weeks later and after a successful social media search, Amanda was tracked down by FedEx - saying Ed Sheeran had sent a parcel to Lily, but didn't have her address.
Amanda said: "We couldn't believe he had got the letter to start with... [Lily] was expecting a CD or a t-shirt. She was so excited - she just couldn't wait.
"It was a guitar. One of his 'Ed Sheeran by Lowden' guitars... handmade guitars he has specially made."
Lily had already learned to play guitar prior to lockdown, but her teacher had become unavailable due to another job.
However, the family has now sourced a new music teacher - meaning Lily will now be able to resume lessons, with her brand-new Ed Sheeran branded guitar.
Amanda said the guitar will get very good use - saying Lily will absolutely be giving the guitar 'a good bash' rather than leaving it unused as a collector's items.
