THREE youngsters who won a competition to design a bench from a felled tree at an ecology site have seen their ideas come to life.

Year three pupil Tom Mayoh and year fours Darcey Devitt and William Earnshaw from St Barnabas CE Primary School in Darwen have had their ideas incorporated into the bench which was made from a tree taken from Jacks Key Reservoir.

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The oak bench has been placed in the school playground looking out towards Darwen Tower.

Pupils have been learning about the work being done at Jacks Key by the Environment Agency to reduce flood risk and improve habitats as it is transformed into a wildlife home.

Lindsay Ward, senior environment project manager, said she had been impressed with how the children had engaged with the project.

She said: “We have ran all sorts of competitions with the kids throughout working on Jacks Key like short stories and poetry as well as the benches.

“I have been very impressed with them, they’ve put a lot of effort into the bench designs and we had to pick joint winners as they were all so good.

“They will all have elements incorporated into it.

“They have been really creative and have shown a real interest in what is going on.”

Around 100 trees have been removed from the woodland amd work at the reservoir is set to be finished in May next year.

One of the dams at the site has been taken out and drained while the other one has been lowered and an open channel has been cut through it.

This work was all required to reduce major flood risk in the area, which could have affected more than 1,500 houses if the dams had failed.

Work has been done to create a new channel to reconnect the River Darwen, a pond and wetland area, a scenic walkway and pedestrian bridge across the new river channel.

It is hoped that wildlife such as owls, foxes, deer, rabbits, dragonflies and more will be drawn into the new site.

Headteacher Helen Thomas said: “The project has inspired the pupils and I think the agency have been inspired by the pupils.

“As a church school its very important that we encourage responsibility for taking care of the earth.”