A letter which is believed to have been the first to have been written by John Lennon at the age of 11 is set to sell for more than £30,000 when it goes under the hammer next month.

The note card sees Lennon thanking his Aunt Harriet shortly after Christmas 1951 for his presents from her including a book about famous ships.

Lennon regularly wrote to his family and friends throughout his Beatles career but the thank you message - with a few grammatical errors - to his mother Julia's younger sister is understood to be his first letter.

He wrote: "Dear Harrie Thankyou for the book that you sent to me for Christmas and for the towel with my name on it, And I think it is the best towel I've ever seen.

"The book that you sent to me is a very interesting one. I am at the bottom of page 18 at the moment. The story is famous Ships its all about a man called Captain kidd the pirate.

"I am on the second chapter, the first chapter is called the Victory and the second is called the Mary Celeste.

"Thankyou for the red jumper that you sent to me.

"I hope you have a happy new year. Love from John x"

The letter, which was formerly the property of his cousin David Birch - Harriet's son - is to be sold by TracksAuction.com om April.

The auction contains around 300 lots of Beatles and music memorabilia including the address book from Liverpool's Cavern Club where the group played many gigs, and a collection of records that were previously owned by Lennon.