THEY'RE all jolly good yellows! That's environment-conscious pupils at Guardian Angels RC primary school who have scooped a cash award in the Bury Yellow Woods Challenge.

The project was the simple, educational and fun environmental initiative run by Yellow Pages, the Directory Recycling Scheme and the Woodland Trust working with Bury Council.

For the last eight weeks, 48 local schools competed in the Yellow Woods Challenge, which encourages schoolchildren to collect old Yellow Pages, featuring sandcastles on the front cover. Local schools have collected 8,535 old directories for recycling into cardboard by Bury-based company Activecraft.

The top local honours went to Bury's Guardian Angels' RC primary for collecting 532 old directories, the equivalent of 2.54 per pupil. To mark their efforts, the school won £300 and was named the "Gold Oak" winner.

And pictured celebrating their win are ten-year-old Lauren Doughty of Guardian Angels (left), and fellow pupil Ellen Bracegirdle (11), who posed with the project mascot.

Summerseat Methodist came second and was awarded £200 and a "Silver Birch" certificate while third place was taken by Old Hall primary which received £100 and a "Bronze Beech" certificate. Yellow Pages will also dedicate a tree in a Woodland Trust wood to Guardian Angels' Primary School for collecting the most directories in total.

All schools from the Bury Challenge will be entered into the Yellow Woods Challenge UK Finals in October, 2004, where they will compete with up to 1,200 UK schools to win prizes of up to £2,000.

All participating schools have been given free environmental educational materials containing fun activities to teach children about recycling and woodland conservation.

Keith Holland, education officer with Bury Council said: "The Yellow Woods Challenge has been a huge success in Bury.

"Schools have had great fun recycling old directories and learning about the environment and woodland. It has also been a great opportunity for the council to raise the profile of recycling locally.