A PROJECT to teach computer skills to adults in a community hit hard by foot-and-mouth and job losses has earned schoolchildren the holiday of a lifetime.

Teenagers from Wolsingham Comprehensive School, County Durham, have won a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, where they will climb Tabletop mountain, go on a jeep safari, and watch whales and penguins.

Team members wept for joy when they were announced winners of Northumbrian Water's Square Mile Project.

The final of the regionwide competition was held at the Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield, County Durham. Eleven teams were invited to the final out of an initial entry of 98.

More than 400 young people were involved in environmental, crime prevention or social awareness projects, improving community life within a square mile of their homes.

The winning team, the Weard Aliens, decided upon their project after the school was awarded UK Online status. Weardale has been particularly hard by foot-and-mouth and the closure of the Blue Circle cement works.

Team member Anna Donaghy, 15, said: "Rather than hogging all these new computers to ourselves, we thought it would be best to get them out into the community, because the closure of Blue Circle and the effects of foot-and-mouth hit us really hard."

The other team members were Anna Pickering, 15, Lily Tristram, Hanne Elkjaer and Kate Dawson, all 14, and 13-year-olds Kim Roberts and Lucy Armstrong. They were guided by teachers Roisin McVeigh and Ian Read.

Organiser PC Mary Atkin said the standard this year was extremely high.

Joint runners-up were teams from Bishop Auckland St John's RC School and Church High School, Jesmond, with All Saints Youth Club, South Shields, and Nunnykirk Estate, Morpeth, joint third. They win holidays at Kielder.