9:42am Thursday 8th May 2008
By Daniel Fawbert Mills
SIX pupils from Fladbury CE First School have won parts in a local radio drama to be broadcast with the BBC later this year.
The pupils, aged between seven and nine, auditioned last week for the roles in a series of short plays based on the lives of local women who grew up in the Vale of Evesham in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
The project is the culmination of a larger project funded by WiNN Evesham called Evesham Voices, and which saw students from Evesham High School conduct interviews with local elderly residents earlier this year to create an oral history archive for Evesham Library.
Stories from the interviews were then used to form the basis for the plays.
Fladbury's head teacher, Ann Embury, said: "The aim of the interviews and the radio plays is to share the past with the next generation.
"Our pupils will get a better understanding of what their grandparents and great grandparents lived through and I'm proud the school is taking part."
The next step will see pupils Harry Lees, Molly Bracewell, Elizabeth Langard, Joshua Merchant and Charlotte and Megan Bradley join a cast of 24 local people at recording sessions at the BBC's Wood Norton studios later this month.
Harry Lees, aged 7, said: "Most children never get the chance to go on the radio so i'm very excited about it." Elizabeth Langard, aged 8, added: "I'm excited at having the chance to go to a real studio, and I've enjoyed reading the scripts."
WiNN Evesham, the Worcestershire Integrated neighbourhood Network, supports and provides opportunities for older people in the community, and manager Jan Roberts has said she is delighted with the enthusiasm and talent show by the pupils at Fladbury.
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