PUPILS at a special school in Nelson have pinned their hopes on the England squad before tonight's crunch match by sending the players a good luck badge each.

The badges, with the message "Townhouse School wishes the England football squad luck in Euro '96", were sent to all 35 members of the squad before the tournament kicked off.

A letter arrived back at the special school for students with severe learning difficulties from England's Bispham Abbey training ground thanking them for their efforts.

Class teacher Brian Chapman said: "They were really pleased to get this letter back. Obviously they've been following England through the championships and we're all hoping for a win tonight."

The badges were among thousands produced by a company set up at the school two years ago as part of the curriculum.

Badges produced by the students have gone all over this country and abroad, including a batch made for an aid trip to Romania.

"We set up as a mini enterprise and bought a badge making machine and out first order was for some Valentine badges," explained Mr Chapman. "People kept asking us to make them badges so in September 1994 we decided to set up the Townhouse Badge Company in co-operation with the National Westminster Bank. We've had orders almost every week. We've never advertised, it's just got around by word of mouth. The students have probably made five or six thousand badges over the past two years.

"The work is part of the curriculum on a Wednesday morning. It gives the students experience of working and producing something, and they have to sort out orders and package the badges up."

The school has just taken delivery of a treadmill provided at a reduced price by Colne firm Physique. Half the cost was met by Nelson Rotary Club. "We're very grateful for their generous support," said Mr Chapman.

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