By Philip Welch

The smiles said it all.

Wells Rotary Club had brought seven big boxes of books as gifts for the children of St Cuthbert's Junior School.

With excited faces the delighted youngsters selected the ones they wanted to read.

This was part of The Listening Project created by Wells Rotary with 16 volunteers, not all Rotarians but all DBS checked, listening to children aged six to 10 years old, on a one-to-one basis for about an hour and a half each week.

By supporting the professional teaching staff in this way, they ensure that every single child gets the individual encouragement that a sympathetic adult can give to a youngster setting out on their journey of discovery into the world of books.

To collect the reading material Wells Rotary run a Children's Book Recycling Scheme where they are collected during the year and presented to local schools at assembly.

By the end of this term Rotary will have given about 2,000 books to Wells junior and infant schools thanks to the support of local people.

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Mrs Liz Ramsay, the English lead at St Cuthbert's Junior said: "This is a real highlight of the school calendar. The children love choosing from the high quality texts that have been donated from the community.

"We really appreciate the added value The Listening Project gives to our school. A huge thank you to all involved."

If you have books for six to10-year-olds to donate please email Alan Guyver of Wells Rotary on [email protected]