Former Tory education Secretary Gillian Sheppard was on a learning curve as she made a whistle-stop tour of the Eastleigh constituency.

Her first port of call was Hamble where the yachting village's community school has clinched a grant of £2,296,552 sports lottery grant.

Headmaster Ian Knights and Ian Beacham, of Hampshire County Education Department, explained the proposals and how work was forging ahead on creating a top-class community sports and health complex.

Later she visited Eastleigh College and a diagnostic treatment and education centre at Fair Oak for children with special needs.