By Thom Kennedy

Last updated at 08:40, Friday, 02 October 2009

When a village school invited pupils to bring in animals to show off to the class, they weren’t prepared for Thomas Bell’s contribution – his 900kg bull.

• Video: Thomas and his bull

Thomas Bell with his champion pedigree Charolais bull Hallbankgate Drago

The seven-year-old farmer’s son brought his 16-month-old champion Charolais, called Hallbankgate Dragon, to show off to classmates at Hallbankgate School, near Brampton.

The school’s acting headteacher Chris Thompson said: “Two pupils from class one and two are pulled out of the hat each week to be a VIP, who can wear their own clothes, are introduced to visitors to the school, and they are entitled to bring in their most precious possession, and this is Thomas’s.

“We had the vicar’s dog, and a couple of guinea pigs, but I don’t know how anybody is going to beat this unless they have an elephant.”

Pupils from the school were invited to look at Dragon, who has won a series of top prizes at this year’s county shows, while Thomas and his parents Ian and Sophie Bell answered their questions about the animal.

Thomas said: “I brought him in because I could show off his trophies.

“I thought about bringing in Tilly, our puppy, but it would have tried to bite everyone and the bull was safer.”

Unfortunately, Dragon couldn’t be brought into the classroom, so the children went out to look at the beast, who is likely to continue growing and could reach around one-and-a-half tonnes, on the village green.

Mum Sophie added: “The children were very excited. The school secretary said normally they issue consent forms to leave the school premises and struggle to get them back, but this time they had all the forms in straight away.”

First published at 05:21, Friday, 02 October 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk