'Are you going to call your daughter Dolly?'

When Shane Jarman received a call two days after the birth of his daughter telling him to come to hospital, he never imagined that he was about to meet a country music icon.

Dolly Parton, who died at the age of 80 on Tuesday, visited Rotherham in South Yorkshire to launch her Imagination Library in 2007.

The project aimed to encourage children under five to read by sending them a free book each month - and its first recipient in the UK was Shane's daughter Emma, who received a copy of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Shane, now 59, recalled being called by his wife Claire while up a ladder as he decorated a Christmas tree at the school where he worked.

"I remember being filled with panic thinking it was something wrong with Emma only to be told it wasn't, there was a special visitor," he said.

"I then drove to the hospital, arrived in Claire's room, spent about two minutes being explained who we were going to meet and then it was a barrage of flashing lights, lots of noise, and in walked a very bubbly Dolly Parton."

Shane, who did not consider himself a fan before he met the superstar, admitted to becoming "totally starstruck" when he was introduced at Rotherham Hospital.

"She had this boundless energy about her that I just can't describe," he said.

"The next thing I know she was sat down next to Claire, taking Emma off Claire and giving her a cuddle and examining her, looking at her and saying, 'Aren't her fingers nice? Are you going to call her Dolly?'."

Shane and Claire, who now run a children's nursery in Hampshire, said the couple had already agreed on Emma's name and there had been "no swaying us".

"We did talk about it and giggle about it and then said, actually, Dolly didn't seem a very Yorkshire name," he said.

Dolly continued to play a part in the lives of the Jarmans following the visit, with a book arriving through the letterbox for Emma each month.

"The books were amazing and were a talking point for our family," said Shane, a former headteacher.

"Emma became an avid reader and bookworm."

As she got older, her parents told her about the time she met "Aunt Dolly" and shared the photographs with her.

Emma, now 18, is heading off to university in September to study biomedical science, and Shane said he could already picture her using her Dolly encounter as an icebreaker when meeting new people.

While the scheme in Rotherham ended in 2015, Emma and her sister's books now continue to entertain a whole new generation of children.

"Their books are now in the nursery that we have, children are now reading the books that Dolly sent to Emma and her sister," Shane said.

"Those books are still as valuable today as they were 18 years ago."

The only book Emma has been unwilling to part with is her copy of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which was signed by Dolly and still has pride of place on her bookshelf at home.

A spokesperson for Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said staff "fondly remember" her visit to the hospital.

"Dolly Parton leaves an incredible legacy as not only one of the world's most loved entertainers, but also a passionate advocate for children's literacy," they said.

"Our thoughts are with Dolly's family and loved ones."

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