THREE pupils at Helmsley Primary School are celebrating after winning a postcard design competition.

Spear Travels in Helmsley set the youngsters the challenge of designing a new Welcome Home card which the travel agency could send out to holidaymakers when they returned from their break.

More than100 entries were received, depicting everything from the youngsters’ own happy holiday memories to dreams of where their travels may one day take them.

Winning first place, and taking home a £50 Toys R Us voucher, was Sophie Howell, aged 10. In second place and winning £25 worth of vouchers was Ted Brackley, aged nine, and in third place was awarded to Emma Thompson, aged six.

A donation was also given to the school by Spear Travels.

Head teacher Claire Lamb said: “We were very excited when Spear Travels approached the school to take part in such a great competition.

"As the new head teacher of Helmsley Primary, I am very keen to make strong links with the community - Helmsley has a very strong community feel and I very much want the school to be at the heart of this. Of course, the pupils were very excited when they heard about the competition and the prizes that were up for grabs.

"The whole school took part and there were some great entries; I am glad I wasn’t the one deciding on the winners. I would like to thank Spear Travels on behalf of the school for their generous donation, we look forward to using this money to further develop the school environment.”

Libby Cookson, director at Spear Travels, said: “As part of the Helmsley community, Spear Travels is proud to have worked in partnership with Helmsley Primary School on this competition. We were amazed at the effort the children put into their drawings and it was very difficult to choose a winner from all the wonderful entries.”