We give Whittlesey school a tale of a time on world book day

We give Whittlesey school a tale of a time on world book day

Students of all ages at Park Lane Primary School in Whittlesey were left spellbound following a morning of magical storytelling sessions to mark World Book Day (5th March), which were supported by staff at our local Kings Dyke brickworks.

We invited professional storyteller Marion Leeper, a member of the Society for Storytelling, to deliver storytelling assemblies focused on the themes of bricks and houses for Key Stages 1 and 2. The first assembly was kicked off by Paul Fitzjohn, our plant manager at Kings Dyke, who presented teacher Peter Ingham with a donation of £250 of National Book Tokens for the benefit of the students.

Peter Ingham said: “We had a fantastic morning spent listening to professional storyteller Marion provided courtesy of Forterra. The donation of book tokens they gave us will provide a great number of children with many hours of pleasure.

“We are so grateful that a local company can support our school in this way and look forward to working with them again in the future.”

Paul Fitzjohn commented: “On behalf of Forterra, we were delighted to be able to organise this storytelling event for the children at Park Lane. World Book Day is a fantastic opportunity for schools, parents and organisations to encourage young people to discover the joys and the benefits of reading, and we hope our donation of book tokens will go even further towards inspiring the school’s pupils to read, create and enjoy stories.”

Marion Leeper said: “Thank you to Forterra, who arranged for me to join the school for their World Book Day celebration and tell some stories about bricks and houses. We had the dilemma of the brickmaker who wasn’t allowed to make bricks; the boy who built a house in a day and a night; the mouse who made a home in a box; and a true ghost story about Whittlesey brickworks.

“It’s always awesome telling stories to a crowd of children in book character costumes. A talking banana explained to me very clearly how to make bricks, and a three-year-old Spiderman asked the most philosophical question of the morning: ‘So was that bear really a baddie?’”

Celebrated in over 100 countries for 23 years, World Book Day is a global celebration of reading, books and authors. The charity aims to provide every child with the opportunity to have a book of their own. For more information, go to www.worldbookday.com.

Further information about Marion Leeper’s work can be found on her website: www.marionleeperstoryteller.co.uk.