BBC Radio Manchester Features

It's based on children's story characters, and called "Max and Lara Save Christmas". But just hours before it was recorded, not a single word of it had been written.

The children get involved

Dozens of parents and children joined musicians from the BBC Philharmonic to create a brand new Max and Lara story at the start of December. The parents spent a Saturday morning brain-storming the story, while their kids got to grips with the sound effects.

In the writing room, the parents were split into groups. All they had to start with was a title - Max and Lara Save Christmas - and a list of possible sound effects their children could create. The rest was up to them.

"We had people working on what could happen to the characters, people looking at the beginning, middle and end. It was a bit hectic, because we only really had an hour and a half to pull it all together," said Terri Sweeney from the BBC's adult learning campaign, RaW.

The resulting story and sound effects came together to produce something unique which you can hear on Richard Fair's show on BBC Radio Manchester on Christmas Eve.

BBC RaW short story writing competition

You could write your own short story for children - by entering the BBC RaW competition before 31 January 2008. There are some great family prizes up for grabs including cinema tickets and the chance to have your short story published.

For more information, go to bbc.co.uk/raw.

Call free on 0800 0150 950 to get hold of your free RaW Max and Lara story books to read with children, and for an entry form for the competition.