THREE youngsters took to the streets in protest after hearing their leisure centre is under threat.

Clad in campaign T-shirts and armed with petitions, Aran Prior, 12, Sam Ferguson, 12 and sister Emma, eight, braved the wintry weather in Wolsingham and Stanhope at the weekend to gather support for their campaign to save Spectrum Leisure Centre's threatened dry ski slope from closure.

The campaigning trio were devastated to hear the ski slope was under threat.

They have used the facility since they were about four-years-old and for the last year also became keen on snowboarding.

Mother Gillian Ferguson said: "The two boys decided on their own to start the petition.

"They don't want to hang around street corners, they want to use leisure centre facilities and keep fit.

"You hear people telling you to try to get teenagers off computers and that they watch too much TV, and then something like this is taken away from them.

"It is especially bad in a rural area, where there is not an awful lot for them to do."

The Save Our Spectrum campaigners, who have started petitions in shops in Wolsingham and Stanhope, and at Wolsingham Comprehensive School, must hand in the signatures by 5pm tomorrow.

They hope to collect as many as 2,000 names.