A GIANT bonfire lit last night is expected to burn until Saturday.

The bonfire has been built at Hardwick Country Park, near Sedgefield, out of the branches of hundreds of trees cleared in a refurbishment programme.

The structure is 30ft high and 40ft wide and estimated to weigh 250 tonnes.

The bonfire was lit at 4.30pm last night to give it a chance to be well ablaze by the time the first spectators arrived for the event at 7pm.

Experts say the bonfire is so large that it should stay alight until the weekend.

It is the first time the park has staged such an event and almost certainly the last on this scale.

Durham County Council, which is carrying out the refurbishment work at the park, organised a competition for local primary schools.

They asked Sedgefield, Hardwick and Bishop Middleham CE Primary Schools to make a guy to place on top and offered a £50 prize for the best one.

But the standard was so high that judges could not separate them, so decided to offer each school a prize and burn all three effigies.

Durham County Council leader Councillor Ken Manton, the local member for Sedgefield, presented the schools with their prizes yesterday.