MASTER model maker Jan Preece is about to begin his most grandiose work - a panorama of Newport as it was when the castle was in its heyday and the city's much-vaunted ship was plying the seas.

"The whole thing will be over 15 feet wide and at least four feet deep," said the man whose long-term ambition is to make a model of every street in Pill.

"It is going to require thousands of hours of work and the lights will be burning well into the wee small hours as I research the details," Mr Preece said.

"But I have been making models for years and I am ready for the challenge. And, if everything works out, I shall be getting some keen helpers."

Mr Preece who is curator of Pill Heritage Centre, has been granted funds by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action working on behalf of the European Social Fund to undertake the project.

"Anyone at all who wants to help can give me a call. It doesn't matter whether they are a history graduate with a first-class degree or a single mother or disabled person who wants to get out and meet friends in a creative atmosphere," he said.

"People will be able to work on what I am calling my Newport Diorama for free but with the help of the WCVA and ESF the Heritage Centre will offering model-making facilities for a nominal fee."

The scope of the diorama, Mr Preece says, will be from downriver of the new Riverfront arts centre to above where the railway line now crosses the Usk.

"The imaginary viewpoint is about where the Riverside pub now stands. Right in the middle of the model will be the castle portrayed as it was in all its glory around 1450," Mr Preece said.

"I will show the cluster of houses in the High Street and around the castle, rising up Stow Hill until they reach St Woolos' cathedral at the top.

"Nowadays our castle shows the ravages of the years but in 1450 it would have been a grand affair with pinnacled wooden roofs to its towers and painted white all over, with banners fluttering from the battlements and perhaps even the heads of executed felons on poles.

"One of the features that absolutely fascinates me is the water gate which allowed boats to sail right into the castle and which you can still see. "A water gate meant that goods that otherwise might have been waylaid and stolen could be taken straight to the safety of the castle.

"I can imagine spies and smugglers and all sorts of other mysterious characters slipping in at dead of night."

Depending on how much volunteer help is enlisted, Mr Preece says the monster model will take about a year to build. "I have used all the techniques before but never quite on this scale.

"The buildings not only have to look right in terms of not only of their shape but also texture.

"People have to be made to feel that they are looking at the real scene. "There will be the sound of mediaeval music floating from the direction of the castle and the general hubbub of voices as the townspeople go about their business."

Helpers will be taken on field trips to a mediaeval village in Wiltshire before being introduced to the art of working with card, wood, metal, plastic and simulated plaster.

Interested in helping make the Newport Diorama or in other aspects of the Talking With Hands programme? Call Jan Preece on (01633) 244893.