A Shrewsbury girl, who has battled with leukaemia for nearly three years, was the star of the opening of Theatre Severn when she presented the Earl of Wessex with teddy bears for his children, James and Louise.

Sophie Foxley, 10, of Bicton Heath, watched the opening performance of Romany Wood with her family before she gave the teddy bears, made by Merrythought in Telford with the Theatre Severn logo, to the Prince.

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She said: “I cannot remember what I said to him. It was a bit overwhelming. I was a bit nervous but I said I had a couple of teddy bears for your children. He said thank you.”

Sophie was given a bear herself to take home – and said she was honoured to share the same toy as the prince’s children.

The earl also met Shrewsbury’s Melanie Nakhla, of classical girl group All Angels.

She said: “He asked if we had another album out and I said yes and he sounded quite excited.

“It’s really flattering he knows All Angels and our music. He was a really lovely man and very friendly.”

Actor Timothy West, narrator in the show Romany Wood, said he was thrilled to see the new theatre.

Prince Edward earlier  saw for himself how firms are battling to survive the economic slump when he visited a giant Telford factory where up to 175 workers are to be made redundant.

The Earl of Wessex visited the Hortonwood factory of Denso Manufacturing UK Ltd, one of the borough’s biggest companies, to round off a whistle-stop tour of the county.

Denso employs about 900 people but bosses announced last Friday that 145 to 175 were to be made redundant as a result of a global downturn in the automotive industry.

The news came just days after Shimizu Industry UK, which is owned by Denso and employs 124 workers at its Hortonwood site, announced plans to move to its sister site in Welshpool.

The earl was welcomed at Denso yesterday by the plant’s managing director Henry Suzuki and Telford’s Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor Bob Groom and Mrs Christine Groom.

Ten-year-old pupils Owen Holthan and Marc Jones said they enjoyed meeting the royal, whom Marc described as “very nice”.

After watching drama students practicing the Lion King, and investigating the kitchens where older pupils were preparing muffins, the prince joined in with a lesson in the computer room at Wilfred Owen School.

Joshua Roberts, 11, said: “He asked us what we were doing with the laptops. We were learning things about rivers.”

To complete his visit, Edward unveiled a plaque to officially open the new buildings and was presented with gifts from seven-year-olds Carla Mclaren and Katie Lewis and Paige Reese, four.