THE BBC is to film the story of 300 child holocaust survivors who came to the Lake District from Prague in 1945.

As part of the programme, the BBC will be attending ‘From Auschwitz to Ambleside’ a commemoration event on Tuesday, March 16, at Lakes School at Troutbeck Bridge.

The school was built in 1964 on the former site of the ‘lost’ village of Calgarth Estate, which was the first UK home for 300 child holocaust survivors from eastern Europe.

Six of those survivors are attending the event, inclu-ding Ben Helfgott OBE, chair of the 45 Aid Society (Holo-caust Survivors) UK – and the only holocaust survivor in history to have competed in an Olympic Games.

An exhibition of photo-graphs taken by pioneering documentary photographer Kurt Hutton, showing the children at Calgarth Estate in 1945, will be also be on display.

The event will also see the launch of an accompanying website ‘From Auschwitz to Ambleside’, which will include interviews with people living in the Lake District at the time who remember the children arriving.

Sedbergh-based education charity Another Space has organised the event, and has been closely involved in making the BBC programme.

Director Trevor Avery said: “We have had an excellent relationship with the BBC, whose staff on this prog-ramme have been totally absorbed and captivated by the story.

“The main thing for us is to get this story known.

“Some of the survivors have been talking to local schools. It makes the holocaust relevant for people in Cumbria.

“It’s actually taken on global dimensions.

“The children who came here, have gone on to live in places like London, Australia and Washington. We even spoke to someone from Israel on the phone recently.”

The television programme – Holocaust: Escape to Windermere – is scheduled for broadcast in the spring. The full details have yet to be released by the BBC.