Children at schools in west Cumbria were not going to let the coronavirus pandemic spoil Halloween fun recently.

At Flimby Primary School children took part in a dress up day to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Pupils donated £1 each to dress up as a spooky character and paid 50p for a Halloween themed cupcake, which were donated by Woody’s in Flimby with all funds raised going to the cancer charity.

Jodie Kemp, Year 6 said: “The cakes Woody’s made were colourful and beautifully decorated. We all really enjoyed them!”

Kai Marnock, Year 6 said: “We usually have a Halloween disco but we couldn’t this year. It was nice we had the chance to come to school dressed up.”

Alexa Craig, Year 2 said: “It was super-duper fun!”

Tanya Peers, deputy head teacher at Flimby Primary School said: “We normally support Macmillan by holding an annual coffee afternoon for children, parents and carers in the village.

“Due to Covid restrictions we thought we would have to cancel this year but decided to think outside of the box and come up with an alternative for this amazing charity.

“We normally hold a Halloween disco and decided to merge the two events to have a day where the children could celebrate Halloween and raise money.

She added: “The children were excited to be able to dress up and they all enjoyed their yummy cupcakes!”

The schools had a range of characters making an appearance for the Halloween dress up day, including witches, zombies, skeletons, werewolves and Harry Potter costumes.

The children also coloured Halloween pictures in that they were then able to take home to put in their windows.

Foundation stage children made milk bottle ghosts and some classes also made scary backdrops using a green screen on their iPads.

The Flimby community also joined in the Halloween celebrations by decorating their houses and the children walked around the village with their grown-ups looking for fabulous displays.

Tany added: “The idea was that they would then put their own sweets in their tubs instead of the traditional knocking on doors during these unprecedented times.”

The school raised £196.80 for Macmillan Cancer support.

Ewanrigg Junior School pupils were also having lots of fun for Halloween with their ‘Spooktacular fabulous fancy dress’ and took part in pumpkin carving/painting and making spiders and their webs to decorate their windows with.