A team from Malvern Young Engineers has won a national competition.

Ben Allen, Chris Stevens, Mark Ross and Ben Barnes took first prize in the Building a Beat competition with their design for a collapsible bandstand.

Young Engineers co-ordinator Judy Thomas said: "The boys are absolutely delighted but they deserved to win as they had a very original, successful design."

Organised by Wood for Good, in conjunction with Young Engineers and New Civil Engineer magazine, entrants were asked to design a covered stage with space for four people, made from softwood and capable of being packed into a van.

The Malvern team submitted a scale model along with photographs, drawings and written details.

Finalists were chosen from different age groups, before judges picked the overall winner at a ceremony at London's Institute of Civil Engineers last Wednesday (December 16).

The first prize is a four-day trip to Sweden, where the Malvern team will see timber being produced and have the chance to do some sightseeing.

There are also plans to produce the team's design for real. Robert Bain, creative director of Den Design, who was on the panel of judges, has expressed an interest in building the bandstand.

Ben Barnes said: "We all hoped we'd win but it was a pretty big shock, as it's a national competition and it's not every day that something like that happens. We were all pretty stunned."

Ben, from Hanley Castle High School, said they had been working on the design since September, originally making it from modelling clay before creating the final wooden model.

Malvern Engineers Club is part of a network of over 1,600 clubs across the UK, giving boys and girls a chance to develop the creative skills with the support of local companies.