SCHOOLS in the Millom area are receiving a helping hand when it comes to teaching youngsters the work of the town’s greatest writer and poet, Norman Nicholson.

The Norman Nicholson Society has produced a schools’ resources pack which is designed to help teachers get across the message that the area of Millom produced one of the 20th century’s best poets.

Norman Nicholson was a man who spent his whole life in the town, and whose writings earned him the Queen’s Medal for Poetry and an OBE, as well as a lasting reputation that still stands today.

The pack, which has been produced with the help of the CGP Community Fund, contains samples and blasts from the past of Nicholson’s writing, biographical information, pictures, and audio recordings.

Sue Dawson, committee member of the Society and herself a lifelong Millom resident, said: “The Learning Pack provides a wide range of worthwhile resources.

“These resources will support teachers and help them to provide interesting and stimulating learning experiences about Nicholson’s life and work.

“We hope that children learning about Nicholson will recognise him as an aspirational figure and someone who might inspire their own creativity.”

The pack has been given to all schools within the Partnership of Millom Schools and has been adapted for the needs of teaching every age group from Nursery to Secondary level.

Vicki Lewis, Year 6 teacher of Haverigg Primary School, is already using the pack to plan a local history project through Nicholson’s writing.

Chair of the Society Charlie Lambert said: “It is so important that the new generation knows about Norman Nicholson and understands that he foresaw many of the issues which are troubling the world today.

“We are grateful to the CGP Community Fund for their support in producing the resources pack.”

Norman lived between 1914-1987 and his poetry is notably linked to Millom’s former iron-mining history.

He married Yvonne Gardener in 1956: and the couple are buried next to each other in St. George’s churchyard. One of his most famous writings is the 1978 works, ‘The Shadow of Black Combe’.