Schoolchildren discussed dinosaurs, rainbows and concentration camps at a poetry session held to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Around 30 pupils from St John's Church of England School in Stanmore Hill visited Stanmore Library yesterday afternoon to hear from a panel of poetry experts.

Members of the Jewish Poetry Society, along with a woman whose parents had been imprisoned in concentration camps and Harrow community poet Judy Karbritz, read aloud to the children about the Holocaust.

After the readings were over, pupils were then given the opportunity to read their own poems to the panel - before discussing dinosaurs and singing 'Over The Rainbow' to finish.

Organiser Judy Karbritz said: "It was lovely - absolutely beyond everything I thought it could be. All the children had a poem to read, either that they had written themselves or downloaded from the internet, and they all did very well.

"With such a difficult topic, we wanted to end on a high note so I asked one of the members to bring their guitar and we sang with all the children, and talked about dinosaurs so they wouldn't go away on a low.

"It was such a lovely afternoon."

All the poetry written and illustrated by the children will be displayed at the library.