FIFTY Southampton schoolchildren were lucky enough to tickets to a very special street party.

Pupils from St Monica Infant School in Sholing and Ludlow Infant School in Woolston were invited to enter a painting competition to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Holiday Inn Hotel in Herbert Walker Avenue.

The children were asked to recreate what they thought the Holiday Inn looked like when it opened in 1966.

Forty years is a very long time to the young artists, all in Year 2, some of them even including horse-and-carts in their designs.

The winners were treated to a traditional street party at the hotel, similar to one which would have been held in 1966.

When the distinctive hotel in Herbert Walker Avenue opened 40 years ago, it was known as The Skyway Hotel.

It became the Holiday Inn six years ago.