IT was a day of Easter fun that went some way to helping an Eastleigh school get back on its feet.

Regulars from The Cricketers Arms turned out in force to raise cash for Nightingale Primary School, which was hit by fire earlier this year.

A fierce blaze swept through the kitchen and flames engulfed the building, causing windows to shatter, cookers to break and part of the ceiling to collapse.

The fire in January, which was later blamed on an electrical fault, meant that 150 children had to take the day off school, though younger pupils were able to attend classes.

At the weekend the Chestnut Avenue pub staged a fun day to raise funds for the school to help replace fire damaged equipment.

Landlord Jason Schinkel, who came up with the idea, sentenced himself to a term in the stocks throughout the day and found himself in the firing line as he was bombarded with wet sponges.

Jason, 37, said: "Some of my staff have kids at the school and when we heard about the fire we wanted to do something to help. We usually hold an event at Easter and we thought this was an ideal opportunity to help the school."

The pub's assistant manager Linda Pearson played a major role in putting together an Easter package of fun which included bouncy castle, face painting, Easter egg hunt, guess the weight of the cake and a barbecue.