THREE Bolton schoolchildren have been rewarded for their fight against racism. The 11-year-old pupils from Brandwood County Primary, Daubhill, received special certificates during a ceremony at the Reebok Stadium following a 'Let's Kick Racism Out of Football Campaign'. The youngsters' work - a poster and a poem - beat off stiff competition from hundreds of other pupils' work in the region, to make it through to the regional final.

And although they didn't manage to make it through to the national final they hope their anti-racism message - in some cases based on personal experience - will hit home.

Rakee Chavda, Farah Atcha and Bhavnisa Chauhan have been given a certificate in praise of their hard-hitting message.

Rakhee, of Croston Street, Daubhill, said: "The message to kick racism is very important because everyone should be friendly and people shouldn't call each other names.

"Sometimes that has happened to me when I've been out of school. It's not happened that much but it made me feel very sad and upset."

Their work, which took about a month to complete, included messages in different languages but with one central theme: 'We hate racism and it should stop'.

David Gilbert, equal opportunities co-ordinator at the Brandwood Street school, highlighted the importance of getting the anti-racism message over to children at an early age.

Mr Gilbert added: "The competition gave both children and teachers the opportunity to address an issue of fundamental importance.

"It doesn't make any difference whether a school is a multi-ethnic one, like ours, or has predominantly white pupils. Children need to be aware of the racism issue."

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