THE plight of miners moved a Cwmbran schoolgirl to write a letter about their appalling working conditions.

And now Maendy Primary School pupil Chloe Challenger, pictured with mum Alison Williams, is backing our Argus campaign to win compensation for miners suffering from crippling arthritis after working underground.

Chloe, 10, won a top award in a Royal Mail competition for her letter about life down the mines.

She said: "It must have been hard and really scary.

"Sometimes there were explosions. I wouldn't have liked it."

She thinks it must be horrible for the former miners who now have arthritis in their backs and knees.

"I feel sorry for them," she said.

And mum Alison Williams, 37, of Harold Street, Cwmbran, said: "We will back your campaign because it's a really worthy cause."

In the letter, Chloe pretends she is a miner's daughter in the nineteenth century.

Chloe was picked from 40,000 entrants to win the Welsh Special Achievement Award.

She said: "I'm writing to my cousin about my parents who work in the mine.

"It's dark and gloomy and they don't want to be down there."

Her literacy teacher, Julia Clancy, described the letter as "really impressive".

"It's like a real-life account. She's got a lovely fluent style of writing."

Chloe's inspiration for the piece came from a school visit to Big Pit last October.

In the letter she writes: "It is smelly, dirty and filthy. We use pickaxes - anyone could crack their head open."

Her work was sent off to the Royal Mail's Young Letter Writers Competition 2005 without her knowing.

Then on Wednesday the school broke the news about the award.

Her mum said: "She was stunned. She came rushing up the stairs and said she'd got some really good news."

Chloe, who will be going to Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School in September, was given £100 in book tokens, £500 for the school and a certificate.