A RENOWNED Anne Frank exhibition is set to return to Gwent next year, the Argus can reveal.

But organisers need the help of the community to raise £9,000 in sponsorship to ensure the travelling exhibition - A History For Today - comes back.

Councillor Mary Barnett is working alongside Torfaen Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) in the hope of arranging the tribute to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, 2003.

Local people will have the chance to gain an insight into the implications of ethnic cleansing and be encouraged to think about the parallels and differences in the events of then and now.

The display, which highlights the harrowing life of Anne and her family as they hid from the Germans in the Second World War, visited Blaenau Gwent in April 2000. Among those who saw it were 5,000 local children.

The leader of Blaenau Gwent council, Councillor John Hopkins, said: "It was a tremendously successful exhibition attended by more than 8,000 people, not only from Blaenau Gwent but also from neighbouring counties."

Anne's life is depicted in five stages, each with a theme relevant to life today.

Visitors are encouraged to consider the concept of tolerance, mutual respect, human rights and democracy.

It shows the cultural, ethnic, religious and political differences in every society, emphasising that any attempt to organise a society based on the idea of a superior or pure race, religion or ethnic group leads to intolerance.

For further information contact Debbie Cummings, secretary of Torfaen SACRE, on 01633 648171.