Festive screening of book dedicated to a former Wick primary school

A BOOK – The Snail and the Whale – dedicated to former Hillhead School pupils is to be featured on festive TV on Christmas Day.

Plenty of family fun is promised in this new animated adaptation of the children's book, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which is due to be screened on BBC One at 2.30pm, Wednesday.

The award-winning children's writer visited Wick Library in March 2003 – the year the book was published – to help launch an extension in a nationwide initiative designed to turn youngsters on to books. Targeted at six to eight-year-olds, the Orange Chatterbooks scheme ran in 15 local authority areas.

While in the county Ms Donaldson and her husband Malcolm took the time to entertain children at the former Hillhead Primary School, Wick, during four sessions spread over two-days.

The author, perhaps best known for her award-winning book The Gruffalo, treated pupils to dramatisations and musical arrangements of her work.

The trip was made possible through a successful application by Hillhead to the Writers in Scotland scheme. Following the visit the book was dedicated: "For everyone at Hillhead Primary School, Wick – J D."

Produced by Magic Light Pictures, this brand-new animation features the features the voices of Rob Brydon MBE as the whale, Sally Hawkins as the snail, and Dame Diana Rigg as narrator.

The magical animation tells the story of a tiny snail who so longs to see the world that she hitches a ride on the tail of a humpback whale.

Together, the unlikely friends see snowy landscapes, tropical jungles, volcanoes, underground caves , and many incredible creatures.

But the snail is left feeling tiny against the vastness of the world – until one day the whale becomes beached, and she sees her chance to make a difference.

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