Angry students at a Morecambe secondary school have criticised the Bradford Telegraph & Argus for mocking the town they love.

Tourism and Leisure students at Skerton High School paid £325 to put an advert in the paper advertising a holiday offer they were running themselves.

The Cosy Coast deal gave an “ideal opportunity” for people to go back to Morecambe to relive childhood memories.

But the teenagers were left furious when the T&A published a cartoon in the same edition making fun of Morecambe and their holiday idea.

The offending cartoon featured two old men in a pub, one with a newspaper that reads: ‘Five days in Morecambe for £99-deal’ and his friend saying: ‘Personally I’d want twice as much.’

The class responded by sending an angry letter to the paper to make their feelings known.

Perry Austin-Clarke, editor of the Bradford Telegraph and Argus responded by saying: “Our cartoon character ‘Walt’ is a an old curmudgeon.

“His downbeat views are very tongue-in-cheek and are not to be taken too seriously by readers.

“But we believe in free speech and Walt is entitled to his opinion even though it doesn’t necessarily represent the views of the Telegraph & Argus.

“For the record, we think the youngsters are doing a brilliant job. I have fond memories of several childhood holidays spent in Morecambe and I’d recommend it to anyone.”

Project co-ordinator and teacher Andy Davidson said: “The pupils were very hurt at the message of the caption, especially as they had just spent two days on the streets of Bradford selling this wonderful Cosy Coast holiday package which is their idea.

“The cartoon wasn’t funny and seemed to be in bad taste.”

In the end though, the youngsters had the last laugh. The group has so far sold 37 holidays – just seven short of their target of 44.

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