Excitement is building throughout Cumbria as the R Factor finalists are announced on local radio and face the Public vote.

In North Cumbria the 3 finalists are Rosley Primary School in Wigton, Kirkbride Primary School in Kirkbride, and Holm Cultram Abbey Primary School in Abbeytown. The south of the county has finalists from Cambridge Primary School , Barrow In Furness, Crosscrake Primary School in Stainton and Castle Park Primary School in Kendal.

The finalist will be played regularly on local radio stations CFM, Lakeland and The Bay over a two week period and listeners are able to vote via text or online at the radio stations websites.

Year 3 and 4 children from Rosley Cof E School said, "Recording the song was brilliant fun and hopefully it will encourage people to recycle and understand the importance of recycling to the environment".

Katie Palmer, junior music teacher at Crosscrake C of E Primary School, said: "We're absolutely thrilled. The children are so excited. They were desperate to listen to the other two songs to see what we're up against. We're feeling quite confident, although the other entries are quite good."

Alice Fisher, Year 2 teacher at Castle Park School, said: "The children are absolutely ecstatic. They heard the news on the radio last Monday when they were coming into school. I just can't believe it. It's overwhelming. The rest of the school has been really supportive. We've got everybody logging on voting for us. We're just keeping our fingers crossed."

The winning R Factor song will be unveiled at a our finale, the R factor Live at Rheged on June 24th, and played on air as a promotional campaign from the following week.

Pictured above is R Factor finalists celebrating at Castle Park Primary School. Image courtesy of the Westmorland Gazette.