THE truth is out there - and five Penwortham youngsters are determined to find it!

The UFO fanatics, all aged 11, have written to America's FBI, the CIA, and the British Ministry of Defence demanding documents on alien visits to our planet.

Code-named the National Investigative Committee of Aerial Phenomena, the intrepid X-Files fans collect and investigate reports of UFO sightings from Lancashire and beyond.

Working from their office in a converted garage, the boys try to piece together exactly what happens when an incident is reported.

Paul Adams, of NICAP said: "We have written to intelligence agencies in Washington quoting the Freedom of Information Act which allows citizens to see declassified documents.

"We have received letters from NASA, and the Ministry of Defence took us seriously giving us lots of information."

The group has dealt with more than 20 incidents near the Blackpool coastline, deciding most were 'fakes' due to the weather conditions.

Paul explained: "UFOs usually come to the coast to land and go underwater so as not be detected by radar."

The members themselves spotted strange objects over Booths in Fulwood and the Greenlands estate last summer.

If you have any sightings to report, send them to the Citizen and we will pass them to NICAP until the group sets up its own postal box. Write to NICAP, c/o Nicola Jolly, Preston Citizen, 3 Winckley Court, Chapel Street, Preston, PR1 3JJ.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.