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A story book encouraging children to ‘do the right thing’ has been released after Gwent Police teamed up with children on Caerphilly’s Lansbury Park estate to write it.

The book, called Llamas, litter picking and the mini police, was written by children’s author Mike Church, with help from Gwent Police, St James Primary School pupils, and Bargoed-based PETRA Publishing.

The book was written back in 2019 after a number of sessions with St James pupils, but it’s official launch was pushed back following the Covid-19 pandemic.

A book reading was held at Van Community Centre on November 28 to celebrate its launch. In attendance were the pupils who helped write the book – Lily Cartwright, Tallulah Mason, Connor Townsend, and Mason Walby. All four have since moved on to comprehensive school.

St James’ current Heddlu Bach pupils were also at the event, as were Gwent Police officers and chief constable Pam Kelly.

The idea for the book was first suggested by Sarah Barbour, a community support officer for the St James ward, which covers Lansbury Park, and PC Anthony Moore.

PCSO Barbour told Caerphilly Observer: “It was very much led by the children. During the sessions it was lesson-based, so Mike Church would speak about what their perception of the police was and how they felt about the police.

“It was about getting their points of view across first rather than going straight into story-writing.

“From that, as a writer, Mike was able to pick parts out of what they were saying and create the book from that.”

It is the second time Gwent Police has worked with Mike Church and St James pupils to publish a book – with the first story, Who said pigs can’t fly?, released in 2021.

“For us, as long as the right messages are being put across and there is a message to put across, then hopefully we can write more,” added PCSO Barbour.

PC Moore meanwhile said the benefits of the scheme are “massive”.

He said: “It builds relationships with young people, especially in a community like Lansbury Park, which historically has been a hard-to-reach area.

“What it gave me and Sarah was the foundation of getting to know youngsters. They got used to us, we got used to them, and you just build trust and confidence in each other, so the benefits to the police going forward are huge.”

Mr Church, the author, spoke of how the book “challenges inbuilt prejudices towards police” and highlighted the creative process that went into writing it.

“I can’t remember how any of the ideas for this book came about”, he said. “But I just know they came through this process where you throw everything into the melting pot and you get all these ideas from the kids – then it’s my job as the writer to stitch and edit it together into a coherent narrative.”