Pupils take flight with Book Heroes
TWENTY-TWO primary and secondary schools have joined Hyndburn Book Heroes, a book swap project launching this summer that aims to redistribute preloved children’s books in Hyndburn.
Hyndburn Book Heroes was an idea developed by James McBride, headteacher at West End Primary School during the recent lockdowns when thinking about what to do with his own children’s preloved books.
James teamed up with the Hyndburn Hub and local youth charity YNOT Aspire to bring more books into Hyndburn’s homes through a local, sustainable and fun project.
Hyndburn Book Heroes has received funding through the Community Champions Fund and this summer is calling on all Book Heroes to donate books suitable for ages 4 to 16 through participating schools, Hyndburn Leisure Centre or Accrington Library.
James said: “The response from our local school community has been outstanding and with 22 schools on board we are looking forward to being able to put hundreds if not thousands of books into the hands of our eager readers.
“We know that reading is linked directly to happiness and better long term outcomes overall.
“We also know that the more books there are in a child’s home, the more opportunity they will have to develop a life-long love of reading.
“This year we will be redistributing our books through summer holiday activity programmes and next year we will be putting books back into circulation through our schools and all schools that take part in the project will receive a share of the books for their pupils.”
YNOT Aspire chief officer Sharon Burch said: “We jumped at the chance to be involved in this amazing project and our project co-ordinator, David has worked with local performing arts group Just Imagine UK who have very generously donated a performance/ workshop day with the school that donates the most books per pupil.”
Accrington actress Julie Hesmondhalgh is also supporting the project with guest appearances in social media clips as well as working with Hyndburn Book Heroes over the next 12 months to develop the project further into literary competitions and reading promotions to nurture our children’s love of books.
Julie said: “Books have always been a constant in my life. I remember going to the wonderful Accy Library with my dad every Saturday, and our smaller local one in church with its dedicated kids’ room with my mum, to choose my stories for the week.
“Books are good for our health, for our brains our sleep, our stress management. They transport us to other places and times and help us open our minds to other people’s experiences and different worlds.
“I love this summer scheme from Hyndburn Book Heroes: distributing pre-loved books to children and young people around the borough. This has been a challenging and difficult time for young people in particular, and even if one child discovers the joy of reading through the initiative, it will have been worth it.
“Let’s get Hyndburn reading this summer!”
Fiction and non-fiction books can be taken in to participating schools by July 16. The books will then be collected and arranged by volunteers from the Hyndburn Volunteer Hub and given for free and to keep to children attending summer holiday activity programmes across Hyndburn.
Anyone can donate. If you do not have children in a participating school, books can be taken to Hyndburn Leisure Centre in Church from July 12-16.