A PAIR of Winchester schoolgirls travelled to London to interview a top politician and businessmen at an IT conference.

Victoria Cahill and Victoria Weston, Year 8 pupils at Kings School, were delighted to be invited to attend the Skills Strategy -- One Year On conference.

Kings has strong IT links - it has business and enterprise status, runs computer clubs for girls and has a virtual on-line magazine.

The girls were asked to interview conference chair Ivan Lewis, the minister for skills and vocational studies for an online article.

They also interviewed Larry Hirst, chief executive of IBM UK, and Digby Jones, chief executive of the CBI.

Victoria Cahill, 12, said: "I use IT and computers for homework and it helps a lot. It was an interesting experience meeting people who work in I.T."

Victoria Weston, 13, said: "It was really good and I got a lot out of it."