Tag: Scottish Friendly Childrens Book Tour

Charity brings stories to life at Royal Hospital for Children and Young People for Christmas

Children and their families at Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children and Young People were visited by storytelling and performance duo Macastory as part of the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour on Friday (9 December). 

Macastory shared songs and stories in an interactive event for the children in attendance. The tour is run by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading and writing, and sponsored by Scottish Friendly.

Alongside the event, children at the hospital and their families were gifted books by Scottish Book Trust to keep and enjoy. These were gifted as part of Scottish Book Trust’s Christmas appeal, which is fundraising to help gift and distribute books to families across Scotland during the festive period through food banks, hospitals, and other community spaces. Books bring comfort, joy, and escapism, and the initiative aims to bring the magic of books to families most in need this Christmas – especially in light of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour takes brilliant authors and illustrators to schools in all areas of Scotland for fully-funded events that hope to inspire a lifelong love of reading and writing in pupils.

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: ‘We’re delighted to have been able to return to Edinburgh Children’s Hospital with the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour, this time for a fun-filled event with Macastory in time for Christmas.

‘Bringing the magic of stories and books to children in hospital is hugely important – books can provide comfort and pleasure as well as improve overall wellbeing. Alongside today’s event, we were glad to be able to gift books to children in hospital and their families thanks to the generous support of the public.’

Fiona O’Sullivan, Director of Children’s Wellbeing at Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “It was wonderful to welcome Macastory to the hospital for this fantastic event. Storytelling is so powerful; being transported to another time or place can be so beneficial for children when they are unwell.

“No one wants to be in hospital at any time, but at Christmas it can be especially hard, so we are enormously grateful to Macastory for bringing lots of fun and distraction to the wards and waiting areas.’

Macastory, comprising storytellers Ron Fairweather and Fergus McNicol, said before the event: ‘We are delighted to have been invited by the Scottish Book Trust to be involved in the Christmas programme at Edinburgh Children’s Hospital.

“It’s a great way for us to bring our Christmas storytelling to kids who otherwise might miss out on this type of fun at this time of year. So we’ve picked our favourite Christmas tales to bring to the kids, families and staff at the hospital and we can’t wait to create some Christmas cheer for everyone to enjoy!’

The Scottish Friendly Children’s virtual Book Tour unlocks support for children during lockdown

128 schools across 32 local authorities in Scotland have joined the virtual Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tours since the start of lockdown last year, with educational video content viewed over 100,000 times.

The ‘Connected’: Space tour recently hosted five days of ‘out-of-this-world’ virtual events, telling the stories of space adventures through science fact and fiction.

The digital events took place online from Monday 22 February to Friday 26 February, with schools from Aberdeen, Argyll & Bute, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Moray, Scottish Borders, South Ayrshire and West Lothian signed up for events, reaching over 750 pupils.

The events are available to watch on demand via Scottish Book Trust’s website.

The Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour is supported by Scottish Friendly and organised by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity transforming lives through reading and writing.

For over 20 years the tour has visited schools the length and breadth of the UK, bringing the world’s best authors directly in front of children in classrooms. Since covid-19 the tour has adapted to the restrictions and changing landscape and has gone fully digital to continue vital work in supporting children, reaching around 8,000 P1-S3 pupils.

Fun, educational video content and live events for home learning and in the classroom have to-date reached an audience of over 100,000 through the Scottish Book Trust social media, Home Activities Hub and On Demand library.

Carol Ann Neil, teacher at Bridge of Allan Primary School said: “Having the opportunity to engage with the Space Explorers event reignited the children’s enthusiasm for reading as individuals and as a class team to share stories during the pandemic.”

The Connected: Space tour featured a diverse mix of book events, including: illustrator and graphic designer Matt Carr, creator of Rocketmole; author and astronomer Dr Sheila Kanani and author Libby Jackson, one of the UK’s foremost space experts and author of book Space Explorers. 

P5-7 pupils had the opportunity to meet Dr Alastair Bruce, Dynamic Earth’s very own resident Astronomer. Joined by Alastair Chisholm, author of Orion Lost, pupils took the role of captain and decided the fate of their own space mission.

The previous tour, Connected: Polar, is now available to watch via Scottish Book Trust’s On Demand library hub. Events include Sarah Airreiss and British Antarctic Survey, live from the Antarctic and Shackleton’s Journey with William Grill and RRS Discovery, Dundee.

The next virtual Connected tour: Continents, will take place from Monday 22 March – Friday 25 March.

Pupils will have the chance to join events and meet authors live from different parts of the world including Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North and South America.

From celebrating different cultures and languages, to exploring about mythology and magic to drawing manga, the Connected: Continents, tour is jam-packed with fun events for all the family. Schools can find out more and sign up via Scottish Book Trust’s website. Events will be available to watch later via Scottish Book Trust’s On Demand Library.

Kevin Brown, Head of PR at Scottish Friendly, said: “As soon as the pandemic hit and schools were closed, our number one priority was to provide educational and exciting content to help children, teachers and parents with engaging video content that can be viewed either via live social media streams or at a time of their choosing.”

Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust said: “Scottish Book Trust is delighted to bring the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour virtually into classrooms and homes across Scotland.

“Since the pandemic started a year ago, it has been more important than ever to provide young people with engaging and exciting content.

“The Connected tours aim to transport pupils to new worlds through author events, offering opportunities to spark their creativity and imagination. The feedback from schools and families has been fantastic, and our On Demand library allows anyone to watch the tour, at any time, and no matter their location.”

Corstorphine Primary School pupils meet Jacqueline Wilson at Jamboree

Top children’s authors and illustrators thrilled 2000 Scottish pupils at a celebration event in Glasgow last week. Continue reading Corstorphine Primary School pupils meet Jacqueline Wilson at Jamboree