NOT everyone favoured the arrival - or was it going to be an invasion? - of 150 North Yorkshire students to one of the biggest events showcasing entrepreneurial talent in the region.

Venturefest York, which earlier this month engulfed the whole of the gleaming new Ebor Stand at York Racecourse, was all about bringing together brain-sparking business ideas and hardened investors.

Was this really the place to introduce the possibly uncontrollable energy of wet-behind-the-ears youngsters?

Surely this was an adult festival with mature speakers in a grown-up setting? But Paul Murphy, the man behind the input of 30 schools in York and North Yorkshire, was proved right.

Mr Murphy is the executive director of the North Yorkshire Business & Education Partnership (NYBEP), whose 25 staff are dedicated to supporting schools and colleges in York and North Yorkshire to prepare students for the adult world of work.

That means connecting schools with businesses and what better forum, he reasoned, than Venturefest?

He said that even though he brought his ideas for youth involvement fairly late in the 18 months' organisation by the York Professional Initiative, he got general support.

But he admits there were one or two people who were sceptical about the notion of so many children occupying the entire third floor of the stand.

He says: "The best thing that happened was that one of those individuals looked around my floor, saw all the bright and enthusiastic people with their fantastic ideas and imagination, then approached me saying: 'I couldn't see the connection, but now I am happy to admit I was wrong.'"

On show ranged exhibits from the winning Venturefest badge designs by primary school pupils, pictured here, to the innovative goods on sale by sixth formers on the Young Enterprise programme - clocks made out of old vinyl records and, particularly popular, a stand selling monogrammed lingerie.

Girls from Skipton High School displayed the bed they had designed specifically for the teenage market in a project with bed manufacturer, Silent Night; and brilliant Emily Cummins, 15, of South Craven was one of three North Yorkshire finalists in the national Young Engineers For Britain competition hosted regionally by NYBEP. Her contribution was a design for a toothpaste dispenser for arthritis sufferers - an idea which came to her when she saw her arthritic grandfather struggling to open and squeeze toothpaste.

A runner up was Poppy Sherwood, 15, of Raincliffe School, Scarborough, who demonstrated her interactive school map which, at the touch of a button, displays locations all over her school

Another crowd-puller was Matthew Mellalieu, 19, of Whitby who designed a portable solar-powered renewable energy generator for use in the Third World.

Mr Murphy says: "Introducing him to his hero, Trevor Baylis, the famous inventor of the wind-up radio who was a Venturefest speaker, was an almost tremulous moment - and spelled out the mutual respect for innovation across the generations."

Updated: 12:00 Tuesday, February 24, 2004