YOUNG Jake Sibbert went back to the Special Care Baby Unit that cared for him to say thank you with the proceeds of a sponsored swim.

Jake raised £104.50 as part of a homework project at Budmouth College in Weymouth and turned it into a cash boost for the tiny patients at the Dorset County Hospital unit where he was born 12 years ago.

Proud mum Sarah Sibbert said: "Jake was born five weeks early and was in the Special Care Baby Unit in an incubator for 10 days.

"He was set a homework where he had to do something for the community and wanted to do it for the Special Care Baby Unit.

"He's a good swimmer and decided to do a sponsored swim. I'm very proud of him - we're all very grateful for what the unit did for us."

Jake, of Canberra Crescent in Weymouth, said: "I swam 70 lengths of the Weymouth public swimming pool. I'm really pleased to have done it."

He presented the cheque to staff nurse Kelly Spaven and had a quick look round the unit.

Helen Hutchinson, one of the ward sisters, said: "I think he's wonderful. We always appreciate the help people give us and we always need money here."

She was working at the unit - then in a different part of the hospital - when Jake was born.

She said: "I think he might be the first of our patients who has gone on to raise money for the unit."

The donation will go towards providing new equipment for the babies and enhancing the surroundings for parents who stay at the ward with their babies.