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LUCKY youngsters took a walk on the wild side when they came face to face with a terrifying T-Rex.

The primary school pupils were part of a large crowd gathered to marvel at the prowling predator as it roared into life.

Yesterday’s display at the MetroCentre Gateshead was a just a taster of the ground-breaking Walking With Dinosaurs tour which is heading for Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena next month.

Pupils from St Peter’s Primary School in Low Fell, Gateshead, were invited along to meet one of the stars of the show – a 7ft-tall baby Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Francesca Bell, aged 10, was one of 14 lucky children from the school who got to see the beast at close quarters.

She said: “It was a very exciting day. It was a bit scary but it was fun as well. It’s totally different to reading about it in a book.

“Our whole school is going to see Walking With Dinosaurs and I’m really excited because it will be fun and it’s a really great experience to see how dinosaurs lived.”

Her classmate, nine-year-old Liam Watt from Newcastle was amazed at the sight of such a realistic dinosaur. He said: “When the dinosaur came I thought he was going to eat me. He roared and then started coming over to people. I felt a bit scared but it was exciting.”

Joan Lawson, 52, a nursery nurse at the school, was taken-aback by the life-like creature. She said: “I thought it was absolutely fantastic. When it roared it made your heart jump.

“To see it so close up it was just surreal, it looked so real even though you knew it wasn’t. The kids thought it was awesome and cannot wait to see the full show.”

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