Local housebuilder creates community library with the help of pupils

With a recent study suggesting that 6% of children and young people in the UK don’t have access to a book of their own at home*, we have enlisted the help of local carpenter D Young Carpentry and pupils from St James’ CE VA Primary School to create a community library to celebrate World Book Day (2nd March 2023).

Following the construction of the book hut by D Young Carpentry, pupils at St James’ CE VA Primary School in Biddenham got creative and worked with the housebuilder to paint the library vibrant colours.

Stocked with plenty of classic children’s stories, the book hut will be placed at our Saxon Park development on Gold Lane, in Biddenham, Bedfordshire until we have completed the homes on site. It will then be donated to St James’ CE VA Primary School, for pupils to enjoy for generations to come.

Rachel Lindop, Head of Sales at our Northern Home Counties region, commented: “Reading is such an important part of a child’s development, so we were really excited about this project. We can’t thank D Young Carpentry and the pupils at St James’ CE VA Primary School enough for all their help – the book hut looks fantastic!

“We hope the books will help inspire creativity and imagination in the children at our development as well as in the local community. We are looking forward to seeing the book hut being used and hope that it encourages young people to pick up a book more often!”

Sarah Morton, Deputy Head Teacher at St James’ CE VA Primary School, added: “St James’ Primary is a school that loves books. We know that having access to high quality books and ‘just reading’ not only improves academic progress, but it also impacts positively on children’s wellbeing. When children can see themselves reflected in stories or are transported to another place or time, its magical. We want to thank Dandara for allowing us to be part of this fun project for World Book Day.

“The pupils had a great time coming up with designs and painting them on the book hut. We hope that the residents at the development enjoy using the community book hut and it will most definitely sit pride of place in our playground when it returns to school.”