VICARS who trained in the North-East took part in a TV challenge to build a remote-controlled bomber.

Former engineers Jeremy Andrew, Chris Stebbing and Steve Johnson, who met at St John's College, part of Durham University, appeared on Channel Four's Scrapheap Challenge last night.

The show challenges entrants to build a machine out of odds and ends, and carry out a task with it.

The clergymen had to make a plane that would drop paint ball bombs on a target.

They built their craft using a garden strimmer's petrol engine, polystrene for wings and a drainpipe for the fuselage.

It crashed three times before it managed to bomb its target a few hundred yards away.

Jeremy, who still lives in Durham, said: "We had no problems with bombing - it wasn't a civilian target.

"When we dropped the bombs they smashed and made a big red paint mark, which was very satisfying.''