PRIMARY school pupils have called for something to be done about the "disgraceful" River Irwell in Summerseat.

Years four and five from Holcombe Brook Primary School have been busy writing letters and making videos to show the state of the river following the collapse of The Waterside Pub on Boxing Day.

The classes paid a visit to The Island in Summerseat where the 200-year-old pub collapsed.

The children had been doing a topic on rivers and were sat looking at the river when discussion turned to the state of the river.

Class teacher Casey Lynchey said: "It all came from the pupils they saw everything that was in the river and were asking why it was still like that six months later.

"They decided they would write to people to see what they could do to clear it up and it spiralled from there."

Mrs Lynchey then decided to incorporate it in to curriculum and the children wrote persuasive letters to six different organisations encouraging them to clean the river.

To add to their campaign the children then asked if they could produce and edit their own videos to enhance their messages.

The pupils took full control and the videos were unscripted.

The videos, which have been published on the school’s website, saw the pupils filming the debris which was still in the water following the collapse of the building.

One pupil said: "This really is a disgrace, it really needs to be cleaned up.

"Look at all this horrific stuff, it's terrible, someone needs to do something about this."

While another added: “The view is shocking. The river's rubbish has come from the Waterside and it looks really dirty. It's getting out of control, something needs to be done."

The pupils also bumped in to a workman from the Flood Defence Agency who gave them an interview on camera and explained that he was removing trees.

Mrs Lynchey said: “The quality of the work that they have done is absolutely brilliant. They took complete control and you could tell that it was something they were passionate about.

"They have started to get responses from the some of the organisations now which is great, they were really excited when I told them that they had got a response.

"The Angling Association have also been in touch about potentially setting up a task force to clear the river. The children are really excited that people are taking notice of their project."

The videos can be viewed on the school website www.holcombebrookprimary.org.uk and on Twitter @Holcombebrook