A DWARF from Peter Jackson’s blockbuster trilogy, The Hobbit, stomped into Millbrook Primary School yesterday as part of a themed week dedicated to the novel.

Hungerford actor Adam Brown, 34, who plays Ori in the Middle-Earth series, attended the Freshbrook school at the request of his best friend Kim Sylvester, a teacher at Worsley Road.

Children gathered in the school hall to watch a clip of Ori and listen to a short presentation from Adam, designed to capture their imaginations as part of a wider week based on JRR Tolkien’s book.

“She (Kim) owes me a big drink after this,” said Adam. “Kim was talking to me about the book and what they were planning on doing with it here.

“I was quite apprehensive at first because it’s a children’s novel, but the films are quite aggressive in some parts.

“But they seemed quite confident that working with some of the older years wouldn’t throw up too many issues, and they would better understand what was going on.”

Adam did not come into school empty handed. The children were captivated by the prosthetic hands and slingshot he used on-set in New Zealand.

The hands, worn like gloves, drew groans from the pupils as Adam described the white sweat which would pour down his wrists during filming, due to the talcum powder worn with them.

After a mass question and answer session in the hall with the actor, he moved into smaller groups in the afternoon, as the year fives and sixes worked through drama classes under his watchful gaze.

Adam has been involved in an assembly at his old secondary school in Hungerford before, but yesterday was his first visit to a primary.

Kim said: “We have been friends since we were 13, so it was just a friend doing a favour.

“I got an e-mail from the rest of the staff about doing a week on The Hobbit and I offered to try and get Adam involved.

“I just thought we are in a socially deprived area and the children don’t get opportunities like this very often.

“We just wanted to enrich the experience for them as much as possible.

“I did think having him work with the year fives and sixes afterwards would be most beneficial, with a drama class.”