A PROJECT that uses a children’s book to tackle hate crime and prejudice is issuing an urgent plea for funding in Burnley.

Heartstone, a nationwide project, has been taken up in many Lancashire towns, working to educate schoolchildren on issues around race and religion through its fantasy storybook The Heartstone Odyssey.

Local groups, known as Story Circles, have already been set up in Preston schools, which are using the book to ignite discussions and debate about challenging and sensitive topics.

Supported by UN Women, the book spans hundreds of years of history and culture featuring Chandra, a young Asian dancer, and her fellow mice companions, who travel across the globe and even to 1800s Lancashire.

Organisers hope Lancashire will be the first county to adopt the project across all its towns and will culminate in a major event at Lancaster Castle in June.

However, Burnley is struggling to find funding for the project, meaning the town and its schools will miss out on the event and the claimed benefits of the book.

Sita Kumari, director of Heartstone, said: “This is a major project which is already involving other parts of Lancashire in the build-up to Lancaster Castle, but not Burnley.

“It is a significant and relevant project dealing with some of the highest-priority issues of our time and we are currently seeking sponsors to ensure Burnley children will also be part of it, which currently they are not.

"We need to find supporters as quickly as we can.”

Burnley MP Antony Higginbotham has thrown his weight behind the project, describing it as an “effort to bring communities together across Burnley” and said he "looked forward to working with Heartstone and others to bring projects like this to our town”.

Cllr Sobia Malik, a former English teacher, confirmed she will help set up Story Circles in Burnley schools when Heartstone gets the funding.

“This is a literary project which will have significant benefit for the children of Burnley,” she said in a letter of support.

“It will allow them to be part of a county-wide initiative tackling one of the most important issues of our time - the need to challenge prejudice and intolerance with communication and trust building, and to achieve that through the power of literature.

“I am ready to contact all the primary schools across Burnley to bring their participation but cannot do this until we are secure and have the funding for the Story Circles."