New children’s book: ‘The Story of the Forest’
On 19th July we were delighted to support the launch of a new children’s history book “The Story of the Forest” at St Johns Church of England Academy, Coleford.
The Forest of Dean Local History Society worked with Foresters’ Forest and Andy Seed, an award-winning local children’s author, to create the book with illustrations by Ursula Hurst. Revealing the rich history and heritage of the Forest of Dean, this delightful book is an informative and entertaining family read for everyone to enjoy.
The children receiving the first copies were quickly captivated by the book and snippets of information provided by the author, their questions and comments included “I never knew there were wolves in the Forest”, “the boar used to have massive teeth”,“did they really kill 100 boar for the feast?” and “That’s cool”.Andy Seed (pictured here with the children from St Johns Academy) says:
“This has been a fascinating, challenging and very enjoyable project. The Forest has an action-packed history, full of ancient tribes, kings, battles, iron, coal, riots, wild animals, glorious trees and proud settlements clinging to hillsides. I’m delighted that local schools are being given free copies of the book and my hope is that it also encourages families in the area to take an increased interest in the Forest’s amazing past.
Mary Sullivan, Chair of Forest of Dean Local History Society comments:
“For many years I have had the ambition to produce material that would inspire local children to be interested in their own community’s history. The Society being a partner in Foresters’ Forest has now achieved this goal. I am delighted we have this beautiful book to offer children and families”
Sue Middleton, Foresters’ Forest Programme Manager adds:
“We really appreciate the funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund that enables us to commission such an expert team to create this wonderful book. It is part of our ‘Working with Schools’ project which helps children learn why our forest is so special.
This book has been funded by the Foresters’ Forest, National Lottery Heritage funded landscape partnership programme. Free copies have been provided to schools and libraries in the Forest of Dean.
