SOAP stars shed their wax jackets to wax lyrical at a college event in aid of National Poetry Day.

Six characters from Emmerdale were among those taking part in a seven-hour poetry marathon at the MacMillan College, in Middlesbrough, yesterday.

They shared their favourite poems and spoke about the importance of developing a taste for verse during a broadcast filmed in advance by the college's year 13 media students.

Younger pupils had the chance to tune in to the programme as it was beamed direct to their classrooms through a video link.

Kenny Graham, an English teacher at the college, said the stars were signed up for the project by another member of staff.

"Dave Telfer, one of the teachers here, is also an actor and he's best friends with John Middleton, who plays Ashley, the vicar, in Emmerdale," he said. "He arranged for year 13 media students to go to Leeds to interview cast members."

As national poetry day is linked with ChildLine, college staff and students decided to donate proceeds from it to the NSPCC.

Among the fundraising schemes they took part in was paying fees to recite poems live to the cameras.

Mr Graham said: "All the students who read poems donated 50p, and all the teachers donated £1.

"We also went round classrooms with a video camera and filmed the teachers who refused to take part."

As well as featuring the Emmerdale cast, the broadcast also included interviews with professional poets Gillian Clarke and John Cooper-Clarke, whose work forms part of the GCSE syllabus.