BUDDING entrepreneurs took a clutch of trophies back to their Dorchester school after they swept the board at the county round of Young Enterprise.

The eight Thomas Hardye School students now go on to the regional round at Cheltenham in June and could be heading for London to bid for the top prize in the prestigious competition.

The year 10 students formed a company called Aspire to create a product that will be a commercial success.

And the youngsters came up with not one but four ideas that are selling as fast as they can make them.

The students, aged 14 and 15, fought off competition including sixth formers from all over Dorset at the county round in Bournemouth.

They returned with trophies as the overall winners, for the best presentation on stage and for the best administered company to add to the collection of Young Enterprise trophies from the previous seven years of Young Enterprise that are already filling display cabinets at the school.

The products are the waterproof BEST Bag, the Handy Handle that fits round shoulder straps for comfort and has other features, the Easy Hook wall-fitting for storing carrier bags for re-use, and the Easy Waiter to make carrying vending machine cups safe and convenient.

They all attracted a good response during early stages of development, so the team decided to produce and sell all four products.

Mollie Charlesworth, who is Aspire's managing director, said: "All of our products can be purchased on eBay and we will be doing trade stands at various schools and businesses like Tesco in the near future.

"We are all really looking forward to the regional finals and hope to show the judges how well we have worked together as a business."

The items are also on sale at three outlets in Dorchester - Shoe Trees, Nikki's hairdresser and Babybirds.

Katie Holmes, who is finance director, said: "We started off with a brainstorming session to come up with ideas and these four were the best.

"In fact, the one that seemed the weakest was the Easy Waiter, but we got that produced and it looks like becoming the most successful."

She said the idea came from the cups of vending machine hot chocolate the team enjoyed during meetings at NatWest bank in Dorchester with their company business advisor, David Humphreys.

Assistant headteacher Richard Cain, who is the school's Young Enterprise co-ordinator, said: "It's marvellous.

"I'm so thrilled with what they've done. They've learned a lot about the skills needed to run a business and they have four solid products."

He also paid tribute to Mr Humphreys. He said: "He has been linked to the school for eight years and we are indebted to him for the many hours he gives to the students."