[A] book celebrating people who grew up around Sellafield has been praised by Copeland’s MP after raising more than £500 for a local park project.
Trudy Harrison MP congratulated author and broadcaster, Jason Rushworth after fundraising a total of £592.95 for the Seascale Community Beach Park Project, through the sales of his book, Atom Kids.
The book, which is now on its fourth reprint after proving a big hit among locals, is made up of memories and anecdotes from people who grew up next to the nuclear power plant from the 1950’s to the present day.
Every sale of the book donates £1 to the Seascale Community Beach Park Project which aims to revamp the children’s play area on the village’s beach front.
Mrs Harrison, said: “Jason has raised a fantastic amount for the Seascale Beach Park Project through the sales of Atom Kids, a wonderful book full of heart-warming anecdotes which I’m sure will bring smiles to the faces of many past and present Seascalians.
“Being a former Seascale resident who attended Seascale Primary School as a child, it’s great to see the history of the area being brought back to life through the use of storytelling, I really enjoyed spotting my family, friends and myself as a young girl in the book. A must for everyone with a connection to the area, past or present.
The book was born following the Seascale Primary School reunion organised by Mr Rushworth, which saw 200 pupils from across five decades return to mark the 65th anniversary of the school.
Mr Rushworth, who attended the school in the 1970s, said: “By the end of the reunion I had heard so much folk law from people about growing up Seascale, that it would have been a waste not to capture all these stories in print – we were all Kids who had grown up there, we were all indeed, the ‘Atom Kids.’
“I was delighted to learn that Trudy was an old girl of the school and had had some of her formative years growing up in Seascale, experiencing the life round here and what it meant to be a part of the area with its own local identity and concerns, such as access to health care and local employment and transport needs.”
Mr Rushworth, continued: “We chose he Seascale Beach Park project as It was the charity we supported on the day of the reunion and it made so much sense for the First generation of Atom Kids to be supporting the next generation of Atom kids – to enjoy the life round here.”
Following the success of Atom Kids, Mr Rushworth has since been approached by charity, Prism Arts who are keen to re-enact stories from the book for children in Cumbria with special needs.
Atom Kids is available to buy by contacting Mr Rushworth on [email protected].
