CHILDREN went back in time to tell the story of their home city on video.

Pupils at St Thomas More RC Primary School, in Belmont, drew characters and buildings from Durham's past, which were animated to make the history come alive.

To get the sequence right, they had to go backwards through time - starting in the present day and removing landmarks from the skyline all the way back to Saxon times.

Teacher Marian Frame said: "We had to go backwards to get the animation right. It was like seeing history in reverse."

The five-and-a-half-minute video, called A Very, Very Brief History of Durham, features Durham Castle, Cathedral and viaduct and was produced with Pete Harrison, of Glendene School, in Easington Colliery.

Thirty-three pupils aged between nine and 11 spent three days creating the drawings, before 4,800 photographs were taken and animated digitally.

The finished product got its premiere in assembly on Thursday.

Mrs Frame said: "The children thought it was wonderful. It's so closely related to their experience. It's much more interesting than memorising dates."