BBC Wales presenter Lucy Owen gives books to school children and office workers
Lucy Owen, the BBC Wales presenter and the face of 'Give a Book Week', visited Sully Primary School, and the Wales & West Housing Association in the Cardiff area on Friday, 5 March, to hand out books to celebrate 'Give a Book Week'.
These visits marked the end of the campaign, organised by the Welsh Books Council, which ran from Saturday 27th February to Saturday 6th March. This year the campaign became one of the central features of the annual World Book Day celebrations in Wales – a campaign which encourages people from across Wales to give a book as a gift to family, friends and colleagues, in order to share the gift of reading.
Lucy Owen took a morning assembly at Sully Primary School, Vale of Glamorgan, where pupils were enthralled by her talk on children's books and enjoyed telling her about their favourite titles. The children also made their own contribution to the initiative by bringing in a book each to donate to the school library.
Later, Lucy visited the head office of the Wales and West Housing Association in Tremorfa, Cardiff, where she met staff, talked about the campaign and gave out books. Staff already bring in their old books to swap with colleagues, so they were thrilled to receive new books from Lucy.
Lucy, a well-known TV presenter and journalist, said: "Books and reading are close to my heart. I enjoy reading and realise it is a fundamental part of everyday life. Reading is crucial for everyone and it should be made fun. I wanted to encourage everyone in Wales to give a book to a friend, member of family or colleague."
Delyth Humphreys, World Book Day Co-ordinator at the Welsh Books Council, said: "We are thrilled that Lucy visited children and office workers in the Cardiff area, as part of taking the message to the people of Wales. Sharing books really does bring people and communities together".
Free books for twinning schools!
Thanks to the generosity of FBA Publications, schools across Wales are taking part in Give a Book Week by twinning and giving books to each other.
FBA Publications are donating over a thousand books to primary school children located in the areas where the special Compass Series books are located. These areas include Cardiff, Llanelli, Llandeilo, Aberystwyth, Porthmadog, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Llangollen and Anglesey.
Give a Book Week, coordinated by the Welsh Books Council, is a week-long campaign held between 27 February and 6 March 2010 to encourage people from across Wales to give a book as a gift to family, friends and colleagues and to share the gift of reading.
The Compass Series / Cyfres Cwmpawd is a unique set of eight story books which have been written and illustrated specifically to enable pupils to explore aspects of the Key Stage 1 programme of study for Geography. All the books in the series are available in both Welsh and English. Focusing on the lives of two fictional children living in contemporary Wales, the stories are both entertaining and educational. Each book is beautifully illustrated in full colour and, as young readers follow the adventures and travels of Bethan and Gareth, they are introduced to different localities and geographical features. The series is a useful tool for teaching key geographical terms and concepts and also for improving literacy.
There are over twenty primary schools taking part, and those that have twinned range from Ysgol Bro Hedd Wyn near Blaenau Ffestiniog to Ysgol Pwll Coch in Cardiff. The towns and areas that are twinned together are Llanelli and Anglesey, Cardiff and Llangollen, Llandeilo and Blaenau Ffestiniog/Porthmadog and Aberystwyth and Anglesey.
Each twinned school will send a set of books about their area to the school with which they have twinned for this initiative. The pupils will be introduced to a new area of Wales and, at the same time, they will be learning key geographical skills.
Delyth Humphreys, World Book Day Co-ordinator, said: "We are very grateful to FBA for donating the books. This is a great initiative which not only joins schools together to learn about other parts of Wales but also encourages primary children to read more."
Sue Balsom, Managing Director of FBA, commented: "Give a Book Week is a wonderful campaign; we were eager to take part and do something to inspire young school pupils."
Give a Book Week is organised this year to coincide with and to celebrate World Book Day 2010 which takes place on Thursday 4 March. The campaign highlights the importance of reading and, through encouraging people to give books as gifts, the aim is to bring the enjoyment of reading to all, whilst also improving literacy skills across the nation.
Give a Book Week 2010 will take place from Saturday 27 February to Saturday
6 March, and will include World Book Day to be held on Thursday 4 March.
The schools that have signed up so far are: Bro Hedd Wyn, Edmwnd Prys, Maenofferen, Manod, Tanygrisiau (Blaenau Ffestiniog area); Borth y Gest, Eifion Wyn, Y Gorlan (Porthmadog area); Garreglefn (Anglesey); Cwmifor, Ffairfach (Llandeilo area); Bryn Cellan (Llangollen); Radyr and Pwll Coch (Cardiff); Ffwrnes (Llanelli); Rhydypennau, Cwm Padarn, Ysgol Gymraeg, Comins Coch and Llanfarian (Aberystwyth area).