CHILDREN across Huddersfield had an eggs-tra special start to the holidays.

Schools and playgroups across town held events featuring eggs of every size and colour.

And the kids loved it!

Of the 400 pupils aged four to 11 at Kirkheaton Primary School, 350 got involved in decorating hard-boiled eggs.

Among the designs were a Henry VIII egg, an egg made into a dinosaur and a Rapunzel egg with flowing hair.

Seventeen of the most imaginative designs were chosen as winners and went on display.

The competition was organised by student teacher Charlotte Benson.

She said: "Last year only 15 took part and this year nearly the whole school got involved.

"There was a massive range of designs. They made a fantastic effort."

Youngsters had an "eggciting" time when they took part in an Easter egg hunt in the grounds of the Honeypot Private Day Nursery in Dalton.

Eight children took part in the hunt as part of their Easter celebrations at the nursery.

Tiny eggs were hidden in trees, bushes and flowers to encourage the children to explore the environment and learn about nature.

Children at First Class, the Huddersfield Technical College's nursery, also took part in egg decorating competitions.

The Nursery, on Portland Street, looks after 80 children whose parents are either staff or students at the college.

The nursery ran three egg decorating competitions - one for children in the main building and one in each of the nursery's two annex buildings.

Children were given two weeks to decorate hard-boiled eggs in keeping with the Easter theme.

Children, parents, governors and staff from Rastrick Independent School held a traditional Easter service at St Matthew's Church in Rastrick.

On display in the church were decorated Easter eggs made by pupils.

During the afternoon the school held a cake and chocolate stall in the school grounds.

The stall was raising money for school nursery nurse Santana Taylor, 16, of Golcar who is travelling to Tanzania in July to teach English.

* 10% of all chocolate sales in the UK occur at Easter.

* An average of 80m Easter Eggs are sold each year at a cost of £500m.

* Approximately 10m Easter cards are sent each year at a cost of £20m.

* Approximately £2bn is spent on DIY-related items at Easter.

* An average of 5m people spend £399 each on home improvements.

* In total, £4.7bn was spent in the week running up to Easter 2004, including Easter Saturday - £1.4bn more than the normal average weekly spend in the Easter month of £3.3bn.

Figures according to the British Retail Consortium.