FOUR children from Malvern Parish Primary School have been successful in regional competition and earned places in the national chess final in July.

Nine members of the school chess club took part in the Mercia regional final of the UK Chess Challenge held at University College Worcester on Saturday, May 3.

The Mercia area covers Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire with 1,335 children entering the competition this year.

Overall the Parish chess club's performance was their best ever. Jenny White (aged 11) was the winner o f the under 11 girls section and Hugh Harris (aged 7) won the under 7 boys section. Both Jonathan Horne (aged 10) and Joe Foulds (aged 9) also won places in the National Gigafinal to be held at the University of Keele in Staffordshire on July 12 and 13.

All the other players were Harry Green, Eleanor Bullman, Catherine Bevan, Matthew Robinson and Kay Main. All won games and nearly qualified in this very difficult competition.

Phil Robinson, headteacher at the school, said: "I am really proud of the children's achievement. They are a real credit to the school. I am also extremely grateful to parents, Mrs Linda Foulds and Mrs Sarah Bevan who week after week run our after school chess club and give up so much of their free time to enrich our children's learning and enjoyment."