A new play is in the works that will follow the lives of prisoners of war based on farms in the Ruthin area.

Artistic director of the Hearth Centre in Birmingham, Polly Wright, is the granddaughter of George and Kathleen Hooson who owned farms in the Ruthin area from the 1920s to the 1960s.

Their farms included Caerfallen, Rhiwlas and they retired to a house called Fir Grove. During the Second World War, Italian and German prisoners of war (POW) were placed on their farms.

Ms Wright has recently came across letters from some of the POW to her grandmother which had come from when they had retuned home after the war.

She said it had become clear through the letters her grandmother had formed quite a friendship with some of these POW.

Ms Wright has been able to track one family down from the names on the letters and is now hoping to share the themes in these letters with the public through the form of a play.

She said: "I have written a play, exploring the themes which were touched on in the letters, and drawing on my grandparents’ memoirs to give a picture of life on Caerfallen during and after the Second World War.

"The play is set firmly in 1943-5- but I hope to be hinting at some parallels about our present relationship with Europe, and the national conversation we are having about the way forward."

The Hearth Centre, has been awarded a grant from Arts Council England to develop the play, and Ms Wright has also signed a contract with Theatr Clwyd to put a Work in Progress event on at the theatre on March 16.

She added: "I have allocated the first two months of 2019 to doing some more research in Ruthin towards doing a second draft of the script.

"I would really love to talk to historical organisations and any individuals who might have memories - or stories about the POWs in Ruthin, who were placed in a large camp outside Ruthin called Pool Park.

"I have placed the originals of the letters in the Denbighshire archive at the Ruthin museum - and I want to work closely with them to engage the Ruthin community in the development of this play which is about their history."