TWO East Renfrewshire teenagers travelled to Brussels to speak at a European Committee of the Regions conference.

As the joint winners of the committee's annual secondary schools competition, Eastwood High pupils Carys Mitchell and Hayyaan Bashir, both 14, flew out to the Belgian capital to deliver a presentation on their school and Scottish culture.

The Committee of the Regions is an assembly of local and regional representatives of the European Union that provides local authorities with a direct voice within the EU's institutional framework.

Geography and history students from third to sixth year at the Newton Mearns school were invited to submit an entry by local councillor and Committee of the Regions member Tony Buchanan who is tasked with choosing a school from his own constituency to take part in the event each year.

After passing a test on the EU and producing 800-word essays addressing ways of minimising food wastage in the EU, Carys and Hayyaan were the lucky recipients of the once-in-a-lifetime trip that also enabled them to experience a plenary session in the European Parliament.

Cllr Buchanan greeted the students ahead of the meeting and looked on with pride as the duo spoke at length in front of fellow winners from Estonia, Romania, Ireland, Slovakia, Italy, Poland and Lithuania.

He said: "They were absolutely fantastic and it shows the standard that our students are working at when they can come to places like Brussels and make a presentation to a wide audience.

"What you do notice is that the presentations get better year-on-year and they're really of quite a high standard. Yet again they were all successful - they've all been very good."

The pupils confidently took centre stage to educate the gathering of students, teachers and journalists from the eight different EU member states about Eastwood High's extracurricular activities, subjects and uniform.

Intrigued and amused by the fact that it rains on 250 days of the year on average in Scotland, audience members were treated to a wealth of information by the East Renfrewshire teens' slideshow.

Other notable topics of discussion included: Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Ben Nevis, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, The Proclaimers and Robert Burns.

While many 14-year-olds would view the conference as a daunting prospect, it was an opportunity Carys and Hayyaan made the very most of.

Carys said: "At first I was a wee bit nervous but afterwards I enjoyed it."

Hayyaan added: "It's been a great experience. I liked it all and I would say the European Parliament was one of the highlights."