CIVIC-minded schoolchildren are mounting a campaign to save the art collection of one of Bolton's most famous sons from going under the hammer.

And pupils from Chalfont Primary, Chalfont Street, Astley Bridge, are hoping for some high-powered help from Virgin supremo Richard Branson.

In May, Viscount Leverhulme's lavish art collection will go for auction by Sotheby's with a price tag of a cool £5 million.

The manor and the collection are being sold following the death last year of the third and last Viscount Philip Leverhulme at the age of 85.

The extensive collection of paintings, furniture, porcelain, sculpture, clocks and silver will be auctioned at the Leverhulme estate, Thornton Manor on the Wirral.

The manor house will be auctioned separately.

But when children heard of the sale and learned through their studies that William Hesketh Lever -- the first Viscount Leverhulme -- was born in Wood Street, Bolton, in 1851 they decided it was time to act to save the collection.

Chalfont headteacher Gwen Acton said: "The children have been studying the Leverhulme family and their soap empire and have researched a lot about his life. They realised he came from Bolton and did a lot for his home town and they felt very strongly about the collection and would like it to be kept together so the public could enjoy it."

In the summer the school is hoping to visit the Leverhulme's purpose-built town of Port Sunlight on the Wirral to see the family's legacy at first hand. But for Mrs Acton's young charges the fight is on to rescue the collection.

Head girl Faaiza Patel, 10, and head boy Naeem Moosa, 11, have already presented a letter to Bolton North-east MP David Crausby letting him know their feelings.

Faaiza said: "We have been studying about Lord Leverhulme and we have come to know that he was a great philanthropist. If he was alive today he would have wanted to give the public his manor and his collection for all to see."

She added: "We have learned that he did a lot for Bolton and we think that we should be able to see his collection and not have it all sold off to different people."

Naeem believes the collection has become part of the nation's heritage. "We feel that everyone should be able to enjoy it," he said, "particularly people in Bolton where he was from. I would like to be able to see it myself because it is part of history.

"We will be very disappointed when it is sold off and when we told Mr Crausby he said it was good we were thinking about the collection in that way."

He added: "We are now writing to Richard Branson to see if he will buy the art collection and keep it on public display."

A spokesman for Sotheby's said it was nice to hear that children felt so passionately about the collection. But she added: "Lord Leverhulme was a collector of art and his items will be sold to other collectors of art so it is following a cycle and I am sure they will be enjoyed by many people."