Pupil power lights up Christmas

A village primary school has adopted an eco-friendly approach to lighting up its Christmas trees - pedal power.

Kirkcolm School near Stranraer in south west Scotland is taking part in a pilot project developed by inventor Antony Berretti from near Newton Stewart.

The children use recycled exercise bikes, a battery pack and inverter to create up to 150 hours of electricity.

The school hopes the project can teach pupils valuable lessons in maths, physics and the environment.

Mr Berretti came up with the idea after hearing a news report about the surge in electricity demand over the festive season in order to power Christmas lights.

"We hope this will allow children to understand the nuts and bolts of energy production and its wider impact on the environment and what can be done to reduce it"
Antony Berretti

He decided to use his own "garden shed technology" to come up with a solution.

He is no stranger to such unusual ventures having previously travelled from Calais to Brindisi and back in a vehicle running on vegetable oil.

Mr Berretti believes the Kirkcolm scheme could eventually be rolled out to secondary schools in order to power other items such as computers and printers.

He said there were valuable educational lessons to be learned from using the old bikes to keep the Christmas lights shining.

"We hope this will allow children to understand the nuts and bolts of energy production and its wider impact on the environment and what can be done to reduce it," he said.

'Great idea'

Head teacher Harold McCracken said the cycling scheme fulfilled a number of purposes.

"It is a great idea and will help teach the children about maths and physics," he said.

"Also the cycling to generate the power will be a great way of preparing the children for all the food and treats that will be consumed over the Christmas holidays.

"On a more serious note, it forms part of our campaign for the school to become one of the first eco-schools in Scotland, harnessing wind power, solar energy and geothermal technology to heat and power the school."