HEARD the one about primary school pupils becoming comedians?

Well now you have – for youngsters at Old Hall Primary School got a taste of making a crowd laugh during a special joke competition.

It was all part of the Voice Box Joke event – organised as part of the national Giving Voice language campaign. It was held at the school in Springside View, Bury, and was attended by Bury North MP David Nuttall.

The children had previously been asked to write down their best joke and bring it into school. Each class chose its favourite and the seven finalists told their joke during the school’s morning assembly. Mr Nuttall presented certificates and announced the winner.

The winner was 10-year-old Kacie-Leigh Olive – and her joke will now be submitted to Royal College of speech and language therapists for the chance to go through to the grand final at Mr Speaker’s House in Westminster, London.

The event was organised by 45-year-old Mike Croston, a speech and language student who has a daughter in Year 3 at the school.

Mr Croston, who is studying a speech and language therapy — SALT — access course at Bury College and is hoping to study the subject at degree level next year, said: “Through my interest in SALT I became aware of the Voice Box joke competition and thought it would be a great idea to run the competition at school.”

Mr Croston added his thanks to headteacher Mrs Ainscoe. He said: “She has been really enthusiastic and encouraged the whole school to take part. It is a fantastic competition and a really fun way to introduce the children to public speaking at a young age.” Voice Box is an annual national joke competition for mainstream and specialist schoolchildren, designed to raise awareness of the fun and importance of communication in a light-hearted and inclusive way.

It is a joint initiative from the RCSLT and The Communication Trust, TCT, and is held concurrently in England, Scotland and Wales. The judging panel will shortlist the best jokes in December and in January 2017 will invite the shortlisted joke-tellers and their parents or guardians to the grand final.

Here’s Kacie’s winning joke: “After many, many years a prisoner was released, he ran around in circles shouting “I’m free, I’m free, I’m free!”

A little girl saw him and said to the man, “So what, I’m four!”