A MUSSELBURGH mum has said a big thank you to the kind-hearted ‘Drone Fairy’ who anonymously replaced her daughter’s lost Christmas gift.

Gillian Steel, from Newhailes, took to social media after losing her 10-year-old daughter Ellen’s drone on Fisherrow Links on Hogmanay after it was delivered the day before.

They had bought the drone with an Amazon voucher Ellen received at Christmas.

Her mum said: “She had been looking at them just before Christmas but, by that time, her letter had been sent to Santa so it was too late to ask him. So I’d said that she could maybe use any Christmas money she received to buy one.”

She said: “The drone kept flying off horizontally instead of vertically so, of course, I thought my daughter must be doing something wrong. I then took control and off it flew horizontally, never to be seen again.”

A search for the drone drew a blank, as Mrs Steel explained: “We scoured the links and went to some of the houses in Mountjoy Terrace to ask if we could search their gardens; however, although everyone was really helpful, it seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

“I posted a message on Facebook to see if folk could look out for it and, on the back of that, someone sent me a message to say she thought she might have seen it that night stuck in between the roof of a car and its roof rack. It was dark and she’d noticed two little lights shining from the top of the car – but had just assumed it was a child’s toy.

“However, by the time we got around to investigating, the car had since been driven and our hopes of finding it intact were now fading fast.”

She added: “On the back of my Facebook plea to find the drone, I had a few messages from some kind-hearted people offering to help. However, after I saw the message about the lights on the roof of the car, I knew it would be pointless.

“On Facebook, you can be met with quite a bit of negativity; however, all of the messages were lovely and included advice about how not to lose a drone and how to find the one we’d lost by tracking via the app.”

And she said: “The Drone Fairy must have been one of those people who had offered to help – or at least someone who read the message – and decided to send us a new one.

“The doorbell rang and, when I answered, the lady said: ‘Amazon delivery for Gillian Steel.’ I do get quite a lot of deliveries so I didn’t really think much of it.

“However, when I took the package inside, I noticed it didn’t have a name and address label, which was odd.

“When I opened it, it was another drone that I hadn’t ordered.

“I have to admit I was a little confused as to how the Drone Fairy knew our address – but I guess that’s what fairies are good at and I expect she might have got it from the Tooth Fairy. I was absolutely delighted. My daughter was delighted and so was my purse. I’m just really touched by the kindness of this person and if she’s reading this, thank you again, Drone Fairy.”