STUDENTS at a Bridgwater school have launched an ambitious campaign to remember the 6.6million Jewish victims of the Holocaust - by collecting an equivalent number of burnt matchsticks.

Chilton Trinity School hopes to collect and display the matchsticks in a glass monument outside the school.

Students have already collected 66,000 matchsticks - one percent of their target - ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, a worldwide event being held this Sunday; they are appealing for businesses and people living in the area to donate more.

Head of religious studies Tess Hurst said: "Doing something like this is so powerful and emotional. Each burnt matchstick represents one person's life who was killed.

"We would love Bridgwater residents and businesses to help us reach this massive figure and for the monument to become a place that the UK's residents and tourists will come to see.

"A year 11 student thought up the plan and other students have taken up the project with enthusiasm.

"There were 11.5 million victims of the concentration camps system. If we get to the 6.6 million then we may consider extending this project.

"I am now writing to firms to ask for donations and am hoping people will get right behind this for future generations to mark something that should never be forgotten."

The school's science department is mocking up a 3D model of the monument to help the students visualise what will be built.

Matchsticks can be donated at the school's reception area, or to get in contact, email thurst1@educ.somerset.gov.uk.