AN IDDESLEIGH author has donated more than £14,000 to support farmers in crisis after the phenomenal success of his book written about the foot and mouth epidemic.
?Out of the Ashes? by Michael Morpurgo was the prestigious Children?s Book Award in June this year ? the only literary award that is judged by young readers themselves ? and 50p from every copy sold of the first edition was donated to the NFU?s Supporting Farmers in Crisis Fund.
Last Friday, Michael, who also runs the charity Farms for City Children at Iddesleigh, presented a cheque for £14,164 to Tim Bennet, deputy president of the NFU.
?Out of the Ashes? tells the story of Becky Morley, a Devon farmer?s daughter who records in her diary the effects of the disease as it first threatens, then engulfs her family?s farm and animals.
The book was inspired by the author?s experiences in his own farming neighbourhood in and around Iddesleigh and every event described in it was based on true events.
Farms for City Children, which offers a unique opportunity for disadvantaged children living in urban areas to spend a week in the country, owns three farms in the Westcountry and when Michael saw at first hand the horror and tragedy that foot and mouth brought to farmers and their families he knew he had to write about it.
He said he wanted to create a story that would record the terrible events of last year and give readers a human insight into the effects of the epidemic on real people in a way that television and press coverage of the crisis, and ever escalating government statistics, could not do.
The story was dramatised for television by the BBC in a one-hour drama that was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Children?s programme and for Best Children?s Drama by the Royal Television Society.
Michael said he and his publishers Pan Macmillan were very proud of the book?s success and that it had raised so much money to help farming families in the aftermath of the foot and mouth disaster.