A Chetwynde School student impressed celebrities with his passionate plea for the environment during the Save Windermere Stop the Sewage protest.

Raffy Johnston shared the spotlight with actors Steve Coogan and Lee Mack during the event which was aimed at safeguarding England's biggest lake from sewage pollution.

His teacher Emma Lashmar said the opportunity to speak at the event came following a school visit to a previous protest as part of an environmental project.

She said: "Lead organiser Matt Staniek was so impressed with his speech last week, when we went up to the small protest, he asked that Raffy join them on stage and read out his speech to the thousands who attended.

“Raffy spoke at length and in detail about the crisis facing Windermere, and did thorough research to ensure that his speech was accurate, informative and powerful.

"He got the biggest cheer of the day.

"Steve Coogan told Raffy that he was brave to address the crowd of over a thousand people and Lee Mack told him that his speech was very inspiring.”

Raffy's brother Ronnie and friend Kian Exley-Johnson were among those present in support.

Ms Lashmar said 25 students have participated in the project throughout the term, exploring this environmental issue in depth and penning persuasive letters to express their views.

Senior teaching assistant Carly Coulter said: "The Year 8 students have worked hard on composing letters to United Utilities and have taken part in the protests over the past few weeks.

"Raffy blew them away when he read out his letter and we are super proud of him."

The speakers called for immediate action from the next government to implement a comprehensive plan to eliminate all sewage discharges into Windermere over the next ten years and to enhance the legal protections for the lake.

United Utilities have previously pledged an early start on investing nearly £20 million to reduce storm-water spills into Windermere and aims to start this work before 2025.

The water company is building storage tanks at Ambleside, Elterwater and Hawkshead that are large enough to hold around 11 million litres of storm water.