CHILDREN have made history in the middle of the River Mersey.

Pupils from two Halton schools celebrated the creation of a 1,000 metre long temporary bridge.

At a special ceremony, they marked the completion of a trestle bridge which will give construction workers an access platform to build the new Mersey Gateway bridge.

Aidan Shaw and Abbie Strain, both aged 10, from Pewithall Primary School in Runcorn and Benyapha Choeisungnoen, aged 10 and Tyler Moisey, aged 9, from Widnes Academy in West Bank shook hands to symbolise the new link.

Abbie said: "It's amazing to be out here in the middle of the River Mersey. It's so big.

“The view you get is really impressive and I'm really pleased to help open this temporary bridge. I can't wait to see how the big new bridge looks while they are building it.”

Tyler said: "Walking along the bridge felt very strange because we were right out in the middle of the river.

“We're learning a lot about the Mersey Gateway at school and it's great to get involved."

The children swapped school bears, made hand imprints in clay and took selfies.

Halton Council leader Cllr Rob Polhill, chairman of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “This is a historic time for Halton and I'm sure that Aidan, Abbie, Benyapha and Tyler will remember it forever.

“We can now look forward to watching the construction of our new bridge as it progresses over the coming months."

Hugh O'Connor, general manager of Merseylink, said: "This is an important milestone for the project.

“Completion of the trestle has enabled us to start to build the central cofferdam and excavate foundations for the bridge pylons.

“The new bridge will connect Runcorn and Widnes and their respective communities so we were very pleased to get schoolchildren involved.”