The stories of Kent miners have inspired a fictional tale illustrated by the pictures of primary school pupils.

The book launch for The Heart of the Wood saw the Warden House School Choir in Deal performing at the Betteshanger Welfare Sports and Social Club.

Aimed at children, the novel tells the story of a teenage girl and her younger brother who go on an epic and magical underground quest to fight for the life of their grandfather.

It was inspired by the stories of ex Betteshanger miner Jim Davies and friends.

Pupils from Warden House and Aylesham Primary Schools have provided the illustrations for the book.

And with a stage performance in the making, they will also feature in the show, and some gave advice on the characters Megan and Jake.

Choirs from both schools are now rehearsing to take part in the live performances in Folkestone, Dover and Sandwich in November.

The whole project began in 2017 when Tracy Brunt of Betteshanger Park commissioned the research and development of a new project to celebrate the history of the Kent Coalfield. This tied in with the building of the Kent Mining Museum, presently on hold.

The Big Reveal's education director David Burridge - a former conductor of Bettesanger Colliery Band in the early 1980s, met former miner and historian Mr Davies and other ex miners from Betteshanger and Snowdown Collieries at the Welfare Club.

This meeting included Martin Riley who would become author of The Heart of the Wood.

Mr Burridge said it was the recollections and stories of the miners that inspired The Heart of the Wood, both the illustrated book and the music, dance and storytelling multi-media performance.

"It is a fiction but facts have come right out of the miners' mouths," he said.

'Some of the pupils we met had grandparents who had actually worked at the colliery' - David Burridge

"For example, at one point in the story it refers to an underground river. This came from the words of an ex miner at Snowdown who talked of an underground river.

"In the story there is a miner called Dinger, who existed and still lives near Mill Hill. There is another called wingnut because of his ears."

In Spring 2019, The Big Reveal Charity, with the backing of the Arts Council England, Betteshanger Park and Folkestone School for Girls, began the project with exploratory workshops in Warden House School, which, like Aylesham, is in the heart of a mining community.

Mr Burridge said: "Some of the pupils we met had grandparents who had actually worked at the colliery and their input, especially from Kyle, Lauren, Freya, Bailey, James and their deputy headteacher Adam Atkinson, was invaluable in the creation of Megan and Jake, the two children in the story.

"Workshops with dancers from the Folkestone School for Girls confirmed our belief that it would be exciting if the story could be told with actors, dancers, choir and orchestra and work began in earnest. Folkestone School’s choreographer, Zoe Barnes, collaborated closely with us during the writing process and guided us on suitable dance elements.

"Meanwhile, we commissioned Year 4 students from Warden House Primary School, Year 5 students from Aylesham Primary and Year 9 students from Folkestone School for Girls to produce the illustrations for this book and for the touring stage production in November 2019. There will be an exhibition of their original artwork at each performance.

"We would like to give special thanks to Jim Davies and ex-Miner colleagues of the Kent Miners Heritage whose deep knowledge of the Kent Coalfields was crucial for the success of our earlier 2013 community drama, The Weight and an inspiration for this project.

Our relationship with Folkestone School for Girls Headteacher Mark Lester began when we performed Dancing on Armistice Day at Folkestone in 2018. Mark’s belief that engagement with the Arts empowers students resulted in his school fully embracing the project. There has been fantastic support from the Dance, Music and Art Departments, students and staff and a group of students from the school have formed the publishing company that has produced this book."

Three live performances of the story will be retold with actors, dancers, children’s choirs, and Revelation Strings Quartet with percussion. This is directed by Matthew Sharp. The book will be on sale at the performances.

They are on Friday, November 8 at 7pm Folkestone School for Girls (with Shepway Brass Academy), Saturday, November 9 at 7pm at Dover Town Hall (featuring Deal Brass Academy), and on Sunday, November 10 at 3pm at Sir Roger Manwood’s School (with The Sandwich Concert Band Training Band)

Tickets £12 adults, concessions £10 and children £6 available from the-big-reveal.com or bridget.burridge@gmail.com