Pupils at West Dene School and St David's School will be battling with the Tweenies for the coveted Christmas number one spot.

West Dene's three, four and five year olds and older pupils from St David's visited the Sony recording studios on Friday, October 5, to feature on the debut single by the Lampies which may conquer the charts..

The Lampies, a B B C cartoon shown on Sunday mornings, reveals the lives of characters living in lamps whose job means they must keep the lights working.

Spurred on by a Lampie named Charge, the children sang Light Up the World for Christmas many times to perfect the sound and in all 60 pupils from Croydon were captured on video in their bright red Childline T-shirts.

Characters including Neon, Captain, Brightlight, Charge, Livewire and their pet Dustywugg hope the Lampies' song will beat the Tweenies for the top number one pop spot this Christmas.

Sanderstead resident Mike Connaris, whose son studies at St David's School, was commissioned by the B B C to write the song, which forms part of his work composing music at MCASSO Music based in Carnaby Street.

The Sony studio was decked out with Christmas trees and decorations and Children's B B C and Childline were there to see the making of the pop video and CD.

The B B C hope to show the video next month on CBBC and the CD will be released on December 10.

Five-year-old Sebastian Adeniran-Olule said: "It is exciting that we are on a CD. We saw Charge who is a Lampie."

Five-year-old Ayanna Blair-Ford said: "It was fantastic. A man took a picture of me for his newspaper."

Sally Topp, head teacher of West Dene School, said "It was a wonderful opportunity for our children. They were a real credit to the school. I was incredibly proud of them all."

December 3, 2001 13:00