ECO-friendly Charlotte Raddon celebrated her birthday with a twist at the weekend - by giving it a green theme.

Charlotte, eight, a pupil at Holy Trinity Middle School in Wethered Road, Marlow, and her mum Linda are both keen on reducing their carbon footprints and took steps to make her birthday party environmentally friendly.

The party was held at Marlow Methodist Church Hall in Spittal Street and all of Charlotte's 11 guests either walked, scootered, or car-shared their way there.

Charlotte's older brother Nick, 15, acted as DJ on the day, using energy-saving disco lights, which use an eighth of the electricity needed to power one theatre light.

Even the food was environmentally-friendly as Charlotte's mum, of Seymour Park Road, Marlow, picked party nibbles which had the least packaging possible, and baked her own cakes. But anything that did have to get thrown out was sorted into different bins for recycling.

As well as being green, Charlotte's celebration was also an ethical one as each of her guests' party bags contained a Fairtrade chocolate bar along with an energy-saving lightbulb.

Speaking to the Free Press on Saturday, Mrs Raddon, a preacher at Marlow Methodist Church, said: "It's just a normal party in other ways. Somebody said, are they going to get a conker and a stick?'. It's still fun but we're trying to do our best as well.

"Both Charlotte and I are interested in the environment and the treatment of people in other countries and just taking care of the world."