A YOUNG inventor from the Ribble Valley has been ringing his own bell in a top engineering competition.

Teenager James Johnson took the second prize in the regional finals of the contest with an ingenious door bell answer machine.

James's entry in the competition was one of four from the Ribble Valley. Three separate entries from students at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and a fourth entry from a Stonyhurst College team were all accepted in the North West finals of the Young Engineer for Britain 1996 contest.

Sixteen-year-old James, of Whalley, was the only Ribble Valley inventor to submit an individual entry. He has spent the last 18 months developing the door bell answer machine. Two more teams of students from the Clitheroe school had devised more technical inventions. Jeremy Wright, Stuart O'Callaghan, Paul Hothersall and Jennifer Shutt, all 17, invented a remote powder handling and transfer system for use in the nuclear industry and Daniel Broughton, Adam Driver and Katherine Lane, all 17, and 16-year-old Lucy Edwards devised a mechanical handling system for placing pellets in transport boxes.

The Stonyhurst team of 17-year-olds, Simon Lovegrove, of Clitheroe, and fellow students Bernard Franklin, Peter Joseph and Ronnel Armengol invented a device used for the internal keyhole inspection on an oil-filled transformer.

James's science teacher at Clitheroe Royal Grammer School, Mr Philip Taylore, said: "We are all delighted that James did so well."

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