A GROUP of youngsters from Swindon were given the chance to look behind the scenes of TV soaps Brookside and Hollyoaks after winning a health competition.

The six winners of the Swindon Borough Council contest to create a credit card sized design promoting a safe sex message, were chosen from a field of 500 entries.

And yesterday they had the chance to meet with stars of the shows including Brookside's Adele Murray, played by Katy Lamont, who played a 15 year-old-girl who had an abortion and Anna Green from Hollyoaks, played by the actress Lisa Kay, who becomes pregnant and struggles to decide if she should keep the baby or give it up for adoption.

Earlier, the winners were presented with a framed picture of their designs plus an HMV voucher by South Swindon MP Julia Drown.

The winning children are Jonathan Newland and Martyn Dearing from Greendown School and Rosie Timbrell, Kayleigh Keville, Laura Sawyer and Vicki-Sara Chalk from Churchfields School.