LORD of the Rings star Sir Ian McKellen was one of a host of British actors to pay tribute to a group of young Wirral filmmakers at a glitzy West End awards show.

The 18 children - all aged between nine and 11. from Wallasey School and Vyner Road School - scooped the Best Special Effects Award at the 2005 young people's 'First Light Film Awards' ceremony, held in London's Leicester Square.

Their winning film "Underfoot Safari" was produced with lottery funding working with the Learning Lighthouse based in Moreton.

Made as part of a four-film project, the film features a group of children who get shrunk to the size of insects using blue-screen technology, and was shot on a budget of around £11,750.

Commenting on the film, judge Pam Ferris - who played Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - described it as an "ambitious and well realised film."

She said: "I especially liked the use of the bramble thorns as ladder rungs. The matching of actors and background was well integrated. Congratulations to them."

Young British actor Joe Prospero, who starred alongside Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland, presented ten-year-old James Smith and 12-year-old Josie Lawrence with their award at the ceremony.

Josie said: "Our film was shown to the whole of the English class at school. Our friends were a bit jealous.

"Taking part has made us realise that we want to choose media studies for our GCSEs."

Praising the work of the young film-makers, UK Film Council chairman Stewart Till said: "It's wonderful to see that potential Oscar-winners of the future are getting their chance to turn their ideas and imagination into stories on the screen.

"These films are a wonderful example of a positive pay-off from Lottery investment.

"The UK film industry has produced world-renowned creative and technical talent. These filmmakers from Wirral have shown that they have those talents in abundance."