BOLD knights thundered on chargers with lances raised and swords drawn, cheered on by hundreds of youngsters at Bingley Grammar School as part of a learning scheme linked to the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Members of the Nottingham Knights, a historical enactment group complete with broadswords, shields and magnificent steeds, made their way to the Keighley Road school for a full day of educational fun yesterday.

And special guests included 250 Year Five pupils from surrounding primary schools, who roared their approval as lance points smashed into shields and six foot blades smashed down on helmeted heads.

The youngsters, who attend Eldwick, Harden, East Morton, Priestthorpe, Princeville, Saltaire and St Matthew's primary schools had come to spend a full day at Bingley Grammar at an event funded as part of a three-year educational project with the RSC.

English teacher Liz Greenwood said it was a marvellous opportunity for younger children to get an exciting taste of the mediaeval history which Shakespeare wrote about, and take part in other historical and literary projects during the day.

"They've taken part in fencing, archery and falconry and it's been great.

"We also had Macbeth workshops and our own Year Tens helped out with those and even led some of the sessions," she said.

Fellow teacher Aimee Barrett said it was all based round the RSC project with the funding already paid for.

"These are our feeder schools and it has been a brilliant educational day and a chance for them to come and spend time here - they've all been really loving it," she said.

While the teachers spoke, the children yelled their support for the "good" knight doing battle with the "bad" knight.

Jumping up and down and pointing at the villain of the piece, they chanted "who are yer? Who are yer!"

Year Ten pupils Niamh Woodhouse, Emma Saunders and Olivia Powell had helped with the day and gave their verdicts.

"It's been great and made everyone's energy levels go whoooo!" Olivia said.

"We led a lot of the drama and it's been a brilliant," Emma said.

"A nice thing is it's really brought a lot of people together from all over the area," Naimh said.

Saltaire Primary School teacher Rob Collins said this had been a wonderful end of term treat for the visiting children.

"They've had an introduction to Macbeth and it's been a good introduction to the school. Everyone's really enjoyed it," he said.