World Book Day: How schools celebrated in Hexham in years gone by

11-year-old Alisha and her very impressive Queen of Hearts costume (Image: UGC)The charity event is held annually in the UK and Ireland on the first Thursday of March and was created to promote reading from a young age.

Wark First School get into character for World Book Day 2019. (Image: KATE BUCKINGHAM)And whether you dedicate weeks to creating your child’s costume or face a last-minute panic before 9 am every time, World Book Day is a day of magic and fun for many.

St Matthew's Primary School reception teacher Patricia Hatherleyand her class get into character for their World Book Day celebrations. (Image: KATE BUCKINGHAM)

From Harry Potter and Where’s Wally to The Tiger Who Came For Tea, the walk to school looks a little different every year on this day.
St Matthew's Primary School year 2 teacher Fiona Moore reads The Gigantic Turnip to her class as part of World Book Day celebrations. (Image: KATE BUCKINGHAM)

Organisers have said: “Our mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own.

“ We want to see more children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and the improved life chances this brings them.”

Here, we look back in our archives at all the wonderfully creative ways Tynedale’s youngest celebrated the day of reading and writing in schools.

Slaley First School enjoy a Lego themed lunch during their World Book Day celebrations. (Image: KATE BUCKINGHAM)In 2022, the International Celebration of Books celebrated its 25th anniversary and had several activities for schools to access to celebrate the event.

One of the activities was World Book Day LIVE with Matilda and friends, which was live from the Cambridge Theatre – home of Matilda the Musical. The show included Children’s Laureate Cressida Cowell, rapper MC Grammar, Chris Riddell, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Allen Fatimaharan, and Hannah Lee.  

For the anniversary, BBC did a 'Teach Live Lesson', which was a curriculum-linked live interactive programme to support reading for pleasure specially made for World Book Day for teachers and pupils.

: Shaftoe Trust Academy pupils Geordie Thirlaway, Chloe Gilchrist, Jack Lamb-Allan, Amber Richardson and Theo Thompson enjoy the swap shop book stall at World Book Day (Image: KATE BUCKINGHAM)World Book Day is for children and adults, as one year Linda Newton was one of the 20,000 book givers who gave out 50 free copies of Nigel Slater's 'Toast' in Waitrose Hexham. Waitrose section manager Patrick Keane got the first copy.
Linda Newton with Waitrose section manager Patrick Keane. (Image: NQ)Local business owners such as the proprietor of Hexham's Cogito Books, Claire Grint,  celebrated World Book Day with some of the written and artwork done by local school children in 2018.

Claire Grint, with some of the written and art work done by local school children for World Book Day in 2022 (Image: NQ)