Chetwynde School student Raffy Johnston rubbed shoulders with the stars when he spoke at the Save Windermere Stop the Sewage protest at the weekend.

He joined comedians and actors Steve Coogan and Lee Mack at the event, which aimed to raise awareness of the group’s 10-point plan to save England’s largest lake from sewage.

His teacher Emma Lashmar said Raffy was invited to speak by the organisers following a school trip to an earlier event as part of a project to learn about the environment and campaigning through persuasive writing.

“Lead organiser Matt Staniek was so impressed with his speech last week, when we went up to the small protest, he asked that Raffy join them on stage and read out his speech to the thousands who attended,” she said.

“Raffy spoke at length and in detail about the crisis facing Windermere, and did thorough research to ensure that his speech was accurate, informative and powerful. He got the biggest cheer of the day! Steve Coogan told Raffy that he was brave to address the crowd of over a thousand people and Lee Mack told him that his speech was very inspiring.”

His brother Ronnie and friend Kian Exley-Johnson also attended the protest to support Raffy.

She said 25 pupils have taken part in the topic throughout the term looking in-depth at this environmental matter and have all written persuasive letters to voice their points of view.

Carly Coulter, a senior teaching assistant at the school which is part of South Cumbria Multi-Academy Trust, said despite any nerves of having to stand up in front of a big crowd he did brilliantly.

“The Year 8 students have worked hard on composing letters to United Utilities and have taken part in the protests over the past few weeks. Raffy blew them away when he read out his letter and we are super proud of him,” she said.