TAVISTOCK College students created their own historical fiction stories as part of a workshop to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Myfanwy Cook, features editor of the Historical Novel Review, provided year 9 students with an overview of the creative writing skills and ingredients used in the genre.

The students learned about German planes which were shot down over Tavistock in August 1940, and used the combatants as a basis for an historical story.

'Historical writing is a way of combining history and creative writing and it's an avenue for people to investigate their own local history and bring it to life,' said Mrs Cook.

'I thought that in such a short time they'd produced exciting, effective and engaging stories which could be turned into longer pieces or completed as short stories to an amazingly high level.

'It was fascinating that each person had taken a different slant using the same factual starting point.

'I think some of them surprised themselves with the number of words they were able to write in a very short time and it proved that creative writing when combined with historical fiction is interesting, and should be fun.'

Examples of the students' work can be seen at the college website, at http://www.tavistockcollege.devon.sch.uk">www.tavistockcollege.devon.sch.uk