ENTERPRISING youngsters from three primary schools have gone green in a mission to collect old Yellow Pages and turn them into cash.

Children from St Andrew's in Bolton Street, Peel Bow in Fir Street and St Paul's in Crow Lane, Ramsbottom, are competing against schools across the country in a bid to give their classes a cash boost.

More than 1,000 schools nationally are participating in the initiative which enables schools to compete for prizes from a cash pot of £36,000 while encouraging youngsters to recycle.

Youngsters are using their persuasive skills to prize the telephone directories from the clutches of friends and family.

Pupils at St Andrew's already think they are on to a winner after collecting more than 200 books in a week.

Headteacher Colin Cliffe said: "The children have been working really hard to try and beat all the other schools and collect the most books.

"As a small school with only 235 pupils, the children have done especially well to collect so many.

"Somebody from the council took the directories away last week, so we are back to square one to collect as many as we can before the end of November.

"We hope we can collect more than anybody else so we can win a prize but the children have had fun just by taking part, for each directory they have brought into school they have received a recycled pencil which has been made out of plastic cups."

Yellow Woods Challenge Organiser Keith Holland, said everybody can participate.

He added: "It's a simple, fun and educational competition that will benefit schools and the environment."

The Yellow Woods Challenge offers something for all schools. Locally the school that collects the most Yellow Pages will win £600 and all schools will automatically be entered into the Yellow Woods Challenge UK Finals for a chance to win a top prize of £2,000.

All participating schools will receive a certificate and an education pack to bring the challenge to life in the classroom.

Richard Duggleby, head of external relations for Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages, said: "The Yellow Woods Challenge aims to educate young people about the environment. We hope the challenge will show that doing even the smallest things can make a real difference to our world."

The Yellow Woods Challenge also supports the Woodland Trust, a woodland conservation charity. For every pound awarded to school by Yellow Pages in prize money, a matching pound will help keep native woodland alive.

Yellow Pages can also be taken to Kwik Save in Ramsbottom.