ARROWS flew, shields were at the ready as a fighting force of young Vikings were practising at Copplestone Primary School.

But the arrows were safe, the shields heavy and effective as each group took their turn to see what it could have been like to be a fighting Viking.

Local Viking and Saxon specialist, Greg Martin, wearing what a Viking fighter would have worn including the "proper" chain mail shirt, had brought with him the heavy helmet with its chain mail protection for the neck and other items from the period.

He spent an afternoon with the Year 5’s of Red Class whose project this term with teacher Miss Lizzie Blake is the Anglo Saxons and Vikings.

They have a bit of history almost on their doorstep with the cross at the centre of the village that is said to be at least 1,000 years old.