DE La Salle have been crowned as Guinness World Record holders after making the largest bug hotel.

In June 2019, the school had the idea of attempting to construct a bug hotel as part of our work towards achieving Eco-schools status.

After doing some research they decided that they should attempt to build the world's largest bug hotel which was, at the time, at Martin Mere WWT in Lancashire and was just less than 19metres 3cm.

Teacher Kieran Foster said: "This seemed an achievable goal but would still be a challenge. We applied to Guinness to attempt the record and when this was agreed we started to search for sponsorship.

"HuwsGray came to the rescue and kindly donated the timber we needed to construct the frame that would then be filled with material to construct the bug hotel and claim the record.

"Due to the wet weather in the autumn / winter it took longer than expected to get the first part of the structure complete.

"Willowbrook hospice donated hundreds of Christmas trees to us to fill part of the structure which got us a mention on Breakfast TV.

"As we closed in on the record we found out that there was a new record. The Martin Mere record had been surpassed by a group in Germany.

"They had passed the record by some margin.

"A phonecall to Palletland resulted in them kindly donating a significant number of pallets (about 200) to continue the dream of setting our own record.

"We continued to collect material from parents and friends as well as St Helens Council.

"With a date set for completion of April 20 we looked like achieving the task with time to spare.

"Unfortunately Covid-19 made the process all the more difficult as school closed.

"The pupils could no longer do the construction which was disappointing.

"It was down to a few determined staff, socially distancing and using the construction as exercise to complete the process.

"We submitted the materials for assessment to Guinness on the revised date of May 20 and we heard that we have been successful on July 8."

The current world record, now held by De La Salle is 81.26metres 3.

They plan to use their giant bug hotel as the focal point for expanding wildlife area along the Mill Brook which runs through the school site to enhance the area for wildlife and for the education of the pupils.

The Eccleston school offered thanks to all the companies, parents, pupils and staff that donated, collected, and moved materials and spent hundreds of volunteer hours building the bug hotel to bring the record to St Helens.