KEIGHLEY school pupils have countered the unseasonably warm winter weather by coming up with spine-chilling stories as part of a national initiative to promote creative writing.

The year nine students from Holy Family Catholic School have studied Charles Dickens’ work The Signal-Man, and created their own short stories in a similar ghostly and gothic tradition.

Their teacher, Samantha Whitham, submitted their efforts as entries in a national writing competition.

This contest, called Spine Chillers, was run by the Young Writers organisation to encourage creative writing in young people.

Last month (Jan) there was news of success for Holy Family – ten girls and one boy from the school will soon have their mini-sagas published.

Holy Family will receive a copy of the text, and each student has been given a certificate and bookmark to acknowledge their efforts.

Ms Whitham said: “I saw this as an opportunity they couldn’t afford to miss. As they were pitted against students up to the age of 18, our students have achieved highly and made everyone extremely proud of them.”

The Holy Family pupils due to have their stories published are: Emma Burn, Heather Flaherty, Marianna Galluci, Charlotte Jones, Nicole Kirby, Serena Miller, Caitlin Riley, Beenish Shabbir, Julia Talarek, Eliza Wheatley and Roberto Volpe.