More than 200 youngsters at a Wigton school are hoping to raise enough money for a life-saving defibrillator.

Pupils across years three to six at Thomlinson Junior School have spent several weeks learning a range of techniques of vital resuscitation skills under the watchful eye of Alistair Guthrie, from Wigton fire station.

To demonstrate their skills, pupils took to the stage to perform a short play about what to do in an emergency.

"It's something that I wanted the pupils to do," sports coach Gina Wilson told The Cumberland News.

"All the staff are first aid trained. A couple of years ago we had pupils at the school who had bad hearts and we wanted the pupils to know what to do in an emergency as well."

The play, which demonstrates what to do if someone is choking, featured a small group of pupils.

"It was an opportunity for them to show off what they've learned over the past six or seven weeks," Mrs Wilson added.

"All the children loved learning first aid and CPR and really got involved with it. They loved practising on the dummies.

"They learned how to help someone who is choking and also how to position someone correctly if they've cut themselves.

"We must be one of the only schools in the area where all our pupils have had CPR training."

Although all 223 pupils at the school have completed their training - they were each handed a certificate at the end of the play - they have been set a new challenge in the hope of installing a defibrillator at the school.

"We're calling it the Smarties challenge," Mrs Wilson explained. "Each pupil has been given an empty Smarties tube and they've been asked to help their parents with chores around the house such as washing up.

"For every one they do, they get 20p and we're hoping that they're all able to fill their Smarties tubes with each pupil getting £10 to £12 each."

Mrs Wilson said that the school is hopeful of raising about £2,000 through the challenge, which will then be used to fund the purchase of the live-saving device.

"They're quite expensive," she said. "But we're hoping that people in the local community would like to get involved as well and make a donation.

"If they do, then it's very much welcome."

Anyone who would like to make a donation can do so by contacting Thomlinson Junior School on 016973 42432.