World Book Day is a charity event held annually in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the first Thursday in March. On World Book Day, every child in full-time education in the UK is given a voucher to be spent on books; the event was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in 1995.

To celebrate World Book Day, schools would encourage children to dress up as their favourite book character, this is popular with pupils up and down the country who can’t wait to go into school dressed as their literary heroes, it is sometimes less popular with parents who will often find themselves trying to craft a BFG costume from an old towel and a bag of pipe cleaners at midnight on the night before.

World Book Day has grown in popularity year on year and is now celebrated in shops and offices, pubs, restaurants and thankfully, in care homes.

We had a wonderful time this World Book Day, the team were dressed up in really quite hilarious costumes, they had organised a day of book themed activities and they didn’t disappoint. We took part in a book club to discuss our favourite authors and the affect that they’d had on us, we read poetry and we celebrated the lives of some of our most prolific writers. One of the residents was even accompanied to an optician appointment by a six foot Harry Potter.

We are lucky here; we have an endless supply of literature in our library, and we are surrounded by like-minded people with whom we can discuss our opinions and share recommendations. There is something magical about reading, to be transported to another world by the written word is a gift that we all can enjoy. It should always be encouraged.

“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary” – Jim Rohn