ENGLISH Heritage is celebrating 30 years of World Heritage Site status for Stonehenge this weekend and offering visitors the opportunity to find one of 30 golden tickets for a stone circle visit or receive one of 30 goody bags being given out at random.

To launch the 30th Anniversary celebrations, students from local Stonehenge School and Avon Valley College are today unveiling a special plaque highlighting the World Heritage Site status of the iconic Wiltshire monument.

Before unveiling the plaque, 30 students will be getting hands on around Stonehenge as part of Kids in Museums Takeover Day.

Young people are being put in charge for one day and will be taking over social media channels, giving tours for visitors at the ancient monument, explaining prehistoric objects, helping in the shop and in the membership hub and giving people from around the world a warm welcome in the Neolithic Houses and exhibition.

Kate Davies, English Heritage General Manager of Stonehenge, said: “This year we are celebrating thirty years of World Heritage status and we are excited to be joined by local schools as part of the Kids Takeover day, as we unveil a World Heritage Site plaque and launch our special 30th Anniversary weekend.

"Young people are the future guardians of our heritage, and it is fantastic to see that our local young community are so interested in learning about Stonehenge and what it means to have a World Heritage Site, one of 30 in the UK, on their doorstep.”

Susan Greaney, English Heritage Senior Historian said: “Over these thirty years Stonehenge has been completely transformed. Significant recent highlights include an improved landscape setting for the monument, with the removal of the A344 and the old visitor facilities and the return of the area to chalk downland. This combined with the opening of the new visitor centre revitalised the whole experience of visiting Stonehenge and means that the monument and its landscape can be explored and appreciated for many years to come.”

Erin Gallagher, a year 9 student from Avon Valley College, said “I am really pleased to be asked to help unveil the plaque at Stonehenge. World Heritage status is important because it means that a place is valuable to everyone, from all over the world and we must all look after it well so that everyone in the future can enjoy and understand it too.”