A SCHOOL is staging live music event in Whalley Abbey to raise funds for specialist science status.

St. Augustine's RC High School, in Elker Lane, Billington, has booked the Houghton Weavers for Music in the Park on Saturday, July 13.

The crowd are being encouraged to bring picnics and wine or other drinks so they can sit on the grass and listen to the folk band play for around three hours from 7.30pm.

Francis Duxbury, a member of the school's parent teacher friends' association, said: "It will be very relaxed experience -- a picnic with family and friends on a lovely summer's evening to the sound of this popular band."

The association has organised the event in the hope of contributing a substantial amount of money to the science bid.

There are already 834 specialist subject colleges in technology, languages, sports and arts in England, but the science colleges are new for 2002.

The closing date to the Department for Education and Skills is October. The idea behind specialist status is to make learning more atttactive for pupils and to increase standards in a particular subject by innovative teaching.

Tickets for the Whalley Abbey Event cost £10. Children accompanied by an adult go free. To book call the school on 01254 823 362.