A DREAM school trip for local youngsters has become an unexpected casualty of NATO's bombing campaign.

An exchange visit to Budapest for local primary school pupils has been cancelled because of the Balkan conflict.

Concerned teachers axed the trip when they heard reports of NATO bombing near the Serbian-Hungarian border - just 70 miles away from where the children would have been staying.

The 36 children are said to be "very disappointed" and concerned about their Hungarian friends.

The visit was planned for June but has now been postponed until spring 2000 when it is hoped the conflict will be over.

The exchange trips have been running at Bowerham Primary, Moorside Primary and Central Lancaster High for six years, with local children staying with Hungarian families.

Linda Marshall, coordinator for the trips at Central Lancaster High, said: "We're very disappointed and we left this decision right until the last minute, but it is not worth the risk of taking children into a potentially volatile situation.

"The children are now very worried about their Hungarian friends who do not have the luxury of being able to leave the country.

"But we are going in Easter 2000 and, in September 2000, we are helping to organise a youth camp in Austria for English, French and Hungarian children."

The exchange visits were designed to teach children about European citizenship.

Moorside Primary headteacher, Peter Gerrish, said: "We have to think about the children's safety and the concerns of parents and we cannot put the children at even a minimal risk.

"But the children are very disappointed and don't really understand why their trip has been cancelled."

Mr Gerrish hopes to negotiate with secondary schools next year so that the children who have left primary school will not miss out on their exchange visit.

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