STANDING by with fingers crossed are four students from Bury Grammar School for Girls who came within a whisker of winning a north west competition to test their presentation skills.

The girls, Lauren Edwards, Lindsey Childs, Emma Gillespie and Michelle Handley, came third in the regional event.

But they did so well they have been asked to stand by in case of drop-outs in the national final on June 27.

The ultimate prize is a trip to Boston USA visiting Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The contest is the climax to a year of in-school sessions by a national organisation called Understanding Industry.

It was set up to enhance the reputation of industry and commerce in the classroom and it sends business people into schools to explain the importance of industry to the economy and to change outdated attitudes to business still found among many young job seekers.

Some 4,000 students aged between 16 and 19 took part in practical sessions led by over 1,000 business people.

All were judged on presentation, style, content, timing, innovation and use of visual aids.

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