An imaginative Barking and Dagenham College staff duo have kicked off 2015 by launching careers as children’s authors.

Barking and Dagenham Post: Barking and Dagenham College tutors Errol Seamon and Robert Bear gave a reading to pupils of Rush Green Primary School.Barking and Dagenham College tutors Errol Seamon and Robert Bear gave a reading to pupils of Rush Green Primary School. (Image: Archant)

Public services tutor Errol Seaman, 38, from Dagenham, and Robert McGovern, 48, from Romford, part of the College’s IT team, showcased their debut offerings to a class of Rush Green Primary School children on Wednesday.

A dedicated family man, Rob was inspired to write Hexy the time keeping spider following a visit from his niece, Carla.

He originally started writing about a bear called Carla but after introducing Hexy as a character, decided she deserved a story of his own sparking the start of the three-year journey of writing and publishing his story about giant spiders.

For Rob, writing the book is a way to help children who may not be avid readers to get into reading. “As a child myself, I didn’t really enjoy reading,” he explained. “So I have made sure that in my book there is always something interesting happening so that it holds the reader’s attention.

“I really hope that my book will inspire children to read more.”

Errol’s book, Tontata the Rhino: And the great Rhino Olympics follows the story of Tontata as he struggles to get ready for the Rhino Olympics.

An ex-professional basketball player, Errol developed an affinity with nature while studying biology at an American university while on a sports scholarship.

Although looking forward to releasing more books, he insists he won’t be shifting away from tutoring anytime soon.

“I’m already working on a second Tom Tontata book and hoping to turn it into a series,” he said.

“I’ve got a lot of different interests though so I don’t know if I’d want to commit all my time, but I certainly want to continue writing.”

As well as entertaining a young audience, Errol is also using his work to help raise money and awareness of the plight of the rhino.

For every copy sold, £1 will go to the Helping Rhinos charity funding projects in Africa and Asia to combat poaching and stop the rhino horn trade.

Simon Jones, founder and chairman of the charity said: “This is a great book which not only provides an entertaining story but also helps in raising awareness of rhinos.

“Rhinos are so heavily poached in the wild that they will be extinct within the next 15 years so we need to educate the next generation to help keep these animals from extinction.”

Both books are stocked on Amazon, with Tontana also available through Waterstones and Blackwell’s online.