Students from Thomas School in Wem have taken on the challenge of being environmentally better by taking part in an eco-friendly project in Oswestry.

Pupils from the school, in Lowe Hill Road, made the trip to the British Ironworks – home of the Knife Angel, which is currently on tour around the UK – to see how they could show their concern for the environment.

Joanne Jones, from the Ironworks, said the group will be collecting bottle tops to turn into a metal gorilla, an animal she says captures the spirit of trying to protect the environment.

"The school will be working hard over the next few months to collect thousands of bottle tops for the creation of a sculpture, igniting their children’s imaginations over using general household waste to create art," she said.

"The school’s Environmental Club approached us to discuss their project ideas and challenged us to create something inspiring for their bottle tops.

"Completely inspired by their environmental ideas, we chose to create a metal mesh mountain gorilla which has been designed to hold over one million bottle tops and will become the integral base for their bottle top sculpture.

"One of the world’s most endangered species, the mountain gorilla is the perfect symbol to help raise awareness for the protection of our environment and its species.

"We can’t wait to see the finished project later in the year."

Four students from Thomas Adams School visited alongside teacher, Maxine Turner, to put the finishing touches on their gorilla structure.

Joanne added: "The students helped our in-house blacksmith to complete the gorilla by welding the final few pieces together.

"It was fantastic to watch the students participate in the creation of the first leg of the sculpture’s journey and we are very excited to see the piece come to life through their recycling efforts in the near future.

"This is a wonderfully unique and important project and we are very proud to be a part of it."