STORIES came alive at the library at St John’s, Marlborough, this week as part of the academy’s World Book Day celebrations.

People with stories to tell about their life experiences or jobs were invited to become ‘living books’ for students to ‘borrow’.

Visitors included actor John Gillett, MP Claire Perry and evacuee John Whitcutt.

Learning resources manager Anne Stokes said: “This is the first time we’ve done this but hopefully it will be something we can do on the next World Book Day and maybe even at various points throughout the year.

“I’m obviously a great advocate of books but to actually be able to speak to somebody about their experiences is something completely different that the kids will remember forever.”

Pupils were put forward by their teachers to take part in the project, which aimed to span a variety of subjects.

Mrs Stokes said: “We wanted to offer it as a reward to pupils who work really hard but perhaps don’t win all the awards, so teachers put the names forward of students who they thought would really benefit from speaking to one of the living books.

“We wanted to have living books from a variety of different backgrounds with interesting stories to tell, be it experiences that have happened to them or have interesting, successful and challenging careers or have disabilities. For example one of the living books, Rupert Langham, is a truly inspirational tetraplegic who broke his neck at 23 but has done some amazing things with his life, which I think is great for the kids to see.”

Other events during the week-long celebrations included writing workshops with author Sarah Singleton, book quizzes and sales, and tomorrow there will be a fancy dress competition for students and staff to dress as their favourite book character.