PUPILS in Pleckgate High School's Press Gang became so keen on a visit to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph that they stayed on to produce their own newspaper pages! The following account of their action-packed day was written by young reporter 12-year-old Kelly Brindle, a year 8 pupil at the Blackburn school:

OUR exciting day at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph started with an introductory talk from NIE co-ordinator, Rita Shaw.

This was followed by a tour of the advertising department where we watched an ad created on screen and saw the busy classified advertising department.

Next we moved on to the editorial department where we were shown news arriving on screen from all parts of East Lancashire - and the rest of the world.

We were amazed at the work involved in producing four editions of the newspaper every day.

Picture editor John Napier showed us some of the huge bank of photographs held on computer, with new ones arriving every minute.

Then it was a quick look at how the content bills are printed to go on the boards outside newsagents' shops and on to our coach for a trip down to Lostock, near Bolton.

The printing plant there produces the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and many more newspapers. We were just in time to see the first edition of that day's coming off the press, ready to make the journey back to East Lancashire. The machines used to count and strap the papers fascinated us, but the noise of the press was loud and we were not surprised that employees had to wear ear protectors.

We went on to see the interesting process used to produce printing plates from photographic negatives - then it was back on the coach for the return journey followed by a short lunch break then the production of our own newspaper pages.

Our school wanted to make a newspaper celebrating all the good work done by Pleckgate pupils and staff in raising £1,569 for charities last term.

We had brought the basic facts and photographs of all our fund-raising events with us which our teacher, Miss Colbert, divided between small groups of pupils.

Our deadline of 3pm gave us only two hours to write, design and compile our newspapers, including news stories, headlines, pictures, advertisements and title of each paper.

It certainly gave us a taste of what newspaper work is really like - non stop pressure (but great fun). By deadline most of us had completed a front page and some groups had produced a second page - and we were all exhausted!

We will be putting our new-found newspaper skills to use in producing our own school newsletter and we now know how much work goes into making our local daily paper.

Spotlight on the Century winners

CONGRATULATIONS to winners of all our competitions in our Spotlight on the Century educational supplement. Peter Butterfield, editor of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, made the final decision on the list of prizewinners and would like to thank all schools and pupils who set him the difficult but enjoyable task of selecting winners from some very high standard entries.

A presentation of prizes is arranged for the following winners in February.

Competition to write a poem on the subject of starting school. Primary winners: 1 Rachel Whalley, Our Lady and St Hubert's RCP School, Great Harwood; runner up Nicola Gillibrand, St Paul's CEP School, Hoddlesden. Secondary winners: 1 Claire Robbins, Fisher More RC High School, Colne; runner up Jenna Cain, Witton Park High School, Blackburn.

Competition to write an imaginary news report based on a photograph. Primary winner: Nicholas Talbot, Holy Souls RCP School, Blackburn. Secondary winner: Ruth Vorstman, Walshaw High School, Burnley.

Competition to write and design a local history newspaper. Primary winners: Griffin Park CP School, Blackburn. Secondary winners: Alder Grange High School, Rawtenstall.

Best school newspaper of 1997. Primary winner: Griffin Park CP School, Blackburn. Secondary winner: Alder Grange High School, Rawtenstall.

School submitting best overall entries to competitions. Primary winners: Griffin Park CP School, Blackburn. Secondary winners: Alder Grange High School, Rawtenstall.

The prize for the last competition is a class visit to Helmshore Textile Museums. Prizes for other competitions are books and CD Roms from publisher Dorling Kindersley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.