RESIDENTS at a Bolton care home have come second in a national archaeology competition.

Lever Edge Care Home entered a paper model of the Great Pyramid of Giza into the Festival of Archaeology "Rubbish Art" competition.

Dorothy Armstrong, 87, helped to build the model. She said: “My favourite part of the sculpture is the little camels that we made. I’m glad we won.”

Residents folded and glued paper for the bricks before mounting the finished model on a cardboard desert, complete with tiny cardboard camels and a backdrop of hieroglyphs.

The care home has won a £25 Hobbycraft voucher and a certificate for their work.

Alix Isherwood, activities coordinator at Lever Edge Care Home, said: “We are all thrilled to win second place in the Festival of Archaeology Rubbish Art competition.

“The residents are delighted their hard work was recognised by the competition judges. They had a lot of fun building our entry.

“The project sparked up some interesting debates about how pyramids were built without the technology that we have today.

“The voucher will be used to buy supplies for our regular arts and crafts sessions.”

Residents almost built a model Stonehenge, but opted for the pyramid after a group discussion.

After making their decision, they spent a day researching their subject, using the internet to find photos and videos of the pyramid before they recreated it in miniature.

James Crawley, 84, was one of those who helped build the mini paper pyramid. He said: “The pyramids are fascinating. They will have been so difficult to build back in those days.”

Edna Sutton, 77, said: “The pyramid looks beautiful. We’ve done a good job. I think we should all go to Egypt and see the pyramids. It would be lovely and warm over there.”