PRIMARY school youngsters are taking a pride in their local community by planting nearly 30,000 bulbs in a town park and surrounding area.

About 20 children from Timothy Hackworth School, in Shildon, County Durham, have started a week-long planting project involving all of the primary schools in the town and SureStart youngsters.

The first planting session took place at Hackworth Park yesterday, where the children spent the morning getting dirty and learning all about how to keep the environment tidy.

Funding for the project was raised by last year's town mayor, Councillor Garry Huntington, who chose to raise money to create a better environment for Shildon as his appeal for the year.

He said: "I wanted to do something that would cheer the town up and make it look more colourful.

"This is something that will give the people of Shildon many hours of pleasure for many years to come.''

Coun Huntington said that he asked the primary schools to become involved so that children would be able to learn more about the environment and be able to see something for their hard work.

He said: "Hopefully, the children will take a pride in what they have done and help look after them over the years."

St John's Primary School will take part in a planting session tomorrow, in the park, along with children from SureStart. Thornhill Primary will bring the project to a close on Thursday.

A plaque will be erected in each of the sites and all of the children will receive a certificate to say they have taken part.