Children's centre celebrates National Storytelling Week

Children in Burnley can look forward to a special session at their children's centre next week.

Organised as part of National Storytelling Week, the Stay and Play slot at Burnley Wood Children's Centre will take on a more literary tone on Wednesday (1 February) with a storytelling session for those aged 5 and under.

The little bookworms will then be given the chance to choose a book from the centre's own library and take it home to enjoy it with their family for a week.

Staff at children's charity Action for Children - which runs the Brunswick Street centre on behalf of Lancashire County Council - hope the special activity will inspire a love of stories in the children and encourage parents and carers to read books with their little ones on a regular basis.

Vicky Lyth, Action for Children support worker, said: "The stories the children will hear are guaranteed to set their imaginations running wild and get them excited about choosing another one to hear at home.

"There's nothing quite like having a story bedtime when you're small and we hope this event will encourage parents and carers to give it a try."

Running between 9.30am and 11am, all parents and carers with children aged 5 and under are welcome to join Vicky and her colleagues for a morning of tall tales and smashing stories. Stories will be told from 10am.

National Storytelling Week was conceived in 2000 to increase public awareness of the art, practice and value of oral storytelling. Organised by the Society for Storytelling, it is held during the first week of February every year. In 2011 around 17,000 people took part across the UK.

For more information on this and other activities at Burnley Wood Children's Centre, telephone 01282 452714.