PRIMARY school youngsters have given up some of their toys to help make Christmas better for other children in third world countries.

Pupils at Eldon Lane Primary School, near Bishop Auckland, have filled 63 shoe boxes full of gifts which will be sent to children in poorer countries.

Their efforts started when ten-year-old Kieran Bolton asked his fellow pupils to join in Operation Christmas Child, a project which was launched by Samaritan's Purse in 1990.

Kieran's mother, Donna Urwin, who is chairman of the school governors, said: "We were doing this where I work and I brought a shoe box home for Kieran to fill and he asked if we could do it at the school.

"We showed the children a video of what life was like for people like them in other countries and they really wanted to do something.''

Mrs Urwin said that the school has been thrilled with the response from parents.

She said: "We only have 70 children and we have filled 63 boxes. A lot of the families have two children in the school but we have still managed to fill almost one box for each child. The children have been so enthusiastic and have put a lot of effort in. They have done really well.''