THE Richard Bransons of the future gathered together to discover whose start-up business would be judged the best.

All the contestants were young people from local schools involved in the Young Enterprise Scheme, which challenges pupils to set up their own company, and hopefully make some profit out of it.

This year the finals for the York and Richmond and Hambleton areaa were held at Askham Bryan College, near York, and involved six local schools, with the businesses offering a variety of services and products.

Top of the tree for the York area was Sherburn High School, from Sherburn-in-Elmet, with its company, Proper Stopper.

First in the Hambleton and Richmond area was Easingwold School, with the company Charms.

The problem with drink spiking got the students at Sherburn High School thinking, and they designed a re-usable bottle stopper.

It has won the backing of North Yorkshire Police, gained the interest of the BBC, and has actually gone on sale in Co-op supermarkets in Selby and parts of Leeds.

In Easingwold the members of the Young Enterprise team created Charms, a company offering top quality, unique, handmade jewellery.

The company has already had some success when it won the award for the Best Trade Stand, at the North Yorkshire Trade Fair in February at York Designer Outlet.

Kathryn Jeffs, North Yorkshire development manager for Young Enterprise Yorkshire and Humber, said all the teams had come up with excellent ideas for companies.

She said: "Everybody there was absolutely fantastic.

"Charms was brilliant. Their presentation was outstanding and they had a fantastic managing director.

"Proper Stopper was a brilliant company with an innovative product, so they both thoroughly deserved to go through to the next round."

Other teams in the finals were York's Fulford School, whose enterprising pupils came up with the idea for YDS - a distribution company offering affordable advertising and distribution to businesses in York with the motto: "Where you want, when you want it."

Another group at the school formed Jabberwock Promotions, which organises and promotes a variety of social events, including parties, discos and concerts with the aim to provide 100 per cent satisfaction.

Written by the people, for the people, was the motivation for Huntington School's BANA Enterprise, which created a guide for York which included quirky information and a witty but informative writing style.

The guide also included maps, pictures and event discount vouchers and was sold in Borders bookshop in York.

Finally, there was Queen Ethelburga's College, near York, whose students came up with the company Focus - a business which sold environmental products like glow sticks made from recycled material and roses on Valentine's Day.

The two winners received trophies and certificates, and will now go on to the North Yorkshire finals in Harrogate on May 15.

If they succeed there, the Yorkshire and Humber finals and finally the national finals beckon.