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News

News Highlights

The New Resources For 2009/10 And 2010/11

National Growth – Numbers Rising Rapidly

Welcome To All The New Bible Storytelling Teams!

Please send any news items for this section of the website to the National Co-ordinator, Dianne Brookes. Stories about what is happening locally will be very welcome. OPEN THE BOOK retains the right to edit any contribution.

A PDF of our latest newsletter can be downloaded from the menu on the left of this page.

THE NEW RESOURCES FOR 2009/10 AND 2010/11

The Year 1 Handbook (published June 2008) with its clear layout, helpful pages for 'Starting and Finishing' and 'Direction', for all 33 stories has proved very popular. Its price is only £4.50.

The national Year 2 Handbook and its accompanying OPEN THE BOOK Year 2 Bible Storybook were published in July 2009. They are on sale together as a unit for £8.50. Used in conjunction with The Lion Storyteller Bible (2008 expanded edition), they are providing lots of new stories to be enjoyed by the children (and storytellers).

The Year 3 Handbook and OPEN THE BOOK Year 3 Bible Storybook are currently being prepared by our editorial team (Judith Jeffery, Dianne Brookes, Leanne Long and Jacqueline Rodwell). These are due to be published in June 2010.

The editorial team will welcome any comments, criticisms and suggestions on any of the Handbooks or Storybooks. Please write to or e-mail Dianne Brookes, National Coordinator.

NATIONAL GROWTH – NUMBERS RISING RAPIDLY

There are now just over 3,100 people registered as storytellers with OPEN THE BOOK. The numbers increase daily. Both new and existing teams are sending in their registration forms. OPEN THE BOOK is still spreading across the United Kingdom. There are now more than 670 teams, but almost certainly many more that are not yet registered. This compares with 926 registered storytellers in January 2008 and about 1,800 in January 2009.

On the basis of an average school assembly of about 150 children, we calculate that at least 100,000 primary school children – and maybe many more - are enjoying a weekly or regular Bible storytelling in Collective Worship.

This means that already more children are probably encountering the Bible through OPEN THE BOOK in the context of school worship on weekdays than in all the Church of England churches on Sundays. The latest figures from the C of E show that the Usual Sunday Attendance of both children and young people together is about 132,000 (i.e..not just the 4-11s, but the 0-16s).

We were delighted to register a team from Kirkhill, Inverness in January. Newly registered teams from Merthyr Tydfil and Briton Ferry show that OPEN THE BOOK is slowly spreading into Wales. The team furthest east is now Great Yarmouth (after that – the North Sea?). Many, many teams are starting in Devon and Cornwall and OPEN THE BOOK is gradually creeping along the south coast. The good news of simple but fun assemblies is also moving further north each month. Please get in touch with Dianne Brookes if you have any queries about starting OPEN THE BOOK or would just like to find out more.

WELCOME TO ALL THE NEW BIBLE STORYTELLING TEAMS!

Dianne Brookes and Val Ralston in our office have had to work hard to keep pace with the steadily increasing flow of new teams wanting to register. We offer a warm welcome to each of the many teams that have started taking Bible storytellings into their local schools in recent months right across the UK. By way of example, the following teams were registered in the two months December 2009 and January 2010.

Alpington, Norfolk; Barnstaple, Devon; Basingstoke, Hampshire; Bodmin, Cornwall; Bradford, West Yorkshire; Cambridge; Chippenham, Wiltshire; Dines Green, Worcestershire; Farlow, Worcestershire; Gainsborough, Lincolnshire; Harrogate, Yorkshire; Hayle, Cornwall ; Higher Foxdale, Isle of Man; Kendal, Cumbria; Kingswinford, West Midlands; Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria; Looe, Cornwall ; Market Rasen, Lincolnshire ; Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire; Penrith, Cumbria; Tasburgh, Norfolk; Thetford, Norfolk; Thurton, Norfolk; Woodbridge, Suffolk. (In December).

Bradford, Yorkshire; Briton Ferry, Glamorgan; Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; Castletown, Isle of Man; Douglas, Isle of Man; Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria; Kirkhill, Inverness; Leeds, Yorkshire; Melksham, Wiltshire; Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan; Much Wenlock, Shropshire; Newquay, Cornwall; Ramsey, Isle of Man; Shrewsbury, Shropshire; Wolverhampton, West Midlands. (In January).

GENERAL SYNOD GETS THE MESSAGE

The Church of England's General Synod debated its new children and youth strategy report, Going for Growth, in February 2010. Our Chairman of Trustees, Peter LeRoy, who is an elected lay representative for Bath and Wells Diocese, was called to give the first speech from the floor.

He took the opportunity to speak about the vital importance, in an age of declining Biblical literacy, of communicating the Bible to children, where they are, in schools and about the strategic value of OPEN THE BOOK.

The 350 or so bishops, clergy and laity present – including both archbishops – listened receptively as he explained and commended the rapidly expanding national network of OPEN THE BOOK teams, working ecumenically and being welcomed into both Church and Community schools in many different contexts.

He pointed out that in Gloucester Diocese, for example, ten times as many children were hearing and enjoying a Bible storytelling each week via OPEN THE BOOK than the total number of children in the C of E churches of the diocese on a typical Sunday.

Peter shared his own enthusiasm, illustrating this with the fact that his team leader had selected him to be a sad and sickly King Hezekiah in one school recently and an oppressive and objectionable Egyptian Pharaoh in another.

Every Diocesan Children's Adviser has recently been mailed about OPEN THE BOOK. So schools wanting a team to take assemblies and needing a church contact should get in touch with them via their local diocesan office. Many of these people work ecumenically.

Download Going for Growth (PDF format)

Listen to the debate: The speech about Open the Book can be found by moving the tab to 16 mins. 30 secs.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE'S 1000th STORYTELLER!

The remarkable story of the development of OPEN THE BOOK in Gloucestershire reached a significant milestone in June when the 1000th volunteer storyteller was enlisted.

Jane Broome was given a surprise presentation of an OPEN THE BOOK sweatshirt when she and the team presented the story of 'Jonah the Groaner' at Elmbridge Junior School.

A report in the local newspaper was accompanied by the photo above. It quoted Dianne Brookes, our National Co-ordinator as follows: "Getting 1,000 volunteers is a great milestone for us, especially as we started at nothing in 2001. We are really thrilled how many people have come forward to commit their time to go into these schools."

The totals by August were 1038 volunteers going into 164 schools reaching 22013 children. This is reckoned to be over half the primary schools in the county.

The Bishop of Gloucester, The Rt. Revd. Michael Perham sent his warm congratulations to the two organisers, The Revd Jacqueline Rodwell and Dianne Brookes, saying, "This is a story that we ought to tell as loudly as we can".

The Rt. Revd. John Went, the Bishop of Tewkesbury said: "This is brilliant good news! Well done to you&those who work with you. It is very much thanks to the vision&inspiration you share so positively. As I journey round the diocese I constantly hear good news stories of OPEN THE BOOK. Every blessing!"

Jacqueline and Dianne first heard about OPEN THE BOOK from Bob Hartman (the author of The Lion Storyteller Bible) at a Children's Ministry Conference. They then went to find out more from Sheila Lawless, one of those who pioneered the movement in Bedford. From a pilot project in 2001, as a Churches Together venture in the Cirencester area, OPEN THE BOOK has grown apace across the county.

The enthusiasm of the organisers, the flexibility of approach, the fun that the storytelling teams have and the positive response of the children have been key to this development. Regular training sessions are organised for the first week of each term in different venues around the county, during which storytelling teams share ideas and experiences.

It is interesting to recall that Gloucestershire was the home of two Christian pioneers relevant to OPEN THE BOOK: William Tyndale, who was martyred for translating the Bible into English and Robert Raikes, often credited for starting the Sunday School movement.

"CHILDREN NOW GREET CHURCH MEMBERS IN THE STREET AND HAVE EVEN BEEN KNOWN TO CRY BECAUSE THEY MISSED A WEEK!"

Taken from the Start the Week website.

Never underestimate the power of some of the simplest tools to create a new interest in and awareness of the Bible!

For years I have used OPEN THE BOOK Assemblies in my Parish Junior schools but since coming to Cornwall to retire I have been overwhelmed by the welcome it has received in my new Deanery. (Things take a long time to reach Cornwall!)

In the space of 6 months it has kicked off in a Rural benefice of 4 small churches when 24 people responded to the invitation to volunteer to read&act out the Bible stories from the Lion Storyteller Bible following the guidelines set out by the OPEN THE BOOK organisation. They now work in teams of 4-6 going to three schools on a Monday morning, one after the other, which means that volunteers only have to do one morning a month.

We have seen hitherto inexpressive or uninvolved volunteers wanting to do more (and sometimes getting carried away with their props or acting!) and children who now greet Church members in the street and have even been known to cry because they missed a week! The children are telling their parents about OPEN THE BOOK stories and the Churches are beginning to report new attitudes in people turning up for Christmas or Family Services and we now need to work with those Churches to see how they can develop other activities or interest which lead on from this initiative.

Now in January we have rolled it out into four Newquay Junior/infant schools with the help of 32 volunteers from across all the Christian denominations. Because of the size of this effort we have had to organise them into 8 teams – 4 covering 2 Monday assemblies and 4 covering 2 Tuesday assemblies. We have, again, been surprised at the welcome it has received in at least a couple of schools who have been hitherto cautious about things "religious". Overall this means that in total over 2000 children are now getting weekly Bible stories and reflections.

I feel sure I'm not alone in singing the praises of this simple tool for Schools. The OPEN THE BOOK project provides everything on a plate from the introductions to the prayers at the end and ideas for presenting the stories. Their code of practice means that it should be acceptable to schools and it ticks a number of their Ofsted requirements for Religious education. Used carefully it can lead to all sorts of other things which we will certainly now be helping the Churches to look at. If you haven't taken a look at it recently go to www.openthebook.net.

Angela Butler

OPEN THE BOOK GETS ANOTHER MENTION ON RADIO 2

OPEN THE BOOK was talked about again on Aled Jones' Sunday morning programme on Radio 2. Bob Hartman was a guest on the programme in December and spoke warmly about OtB.

This followed the earlier favourable mention of OPEN THE BOOK by Aled back in March 2009. This was after OtB volunteer Joyce Whales from Tewkesbury had contacted him to explain how she and her Bible storytelling team were doing their bit to compensate for the lack of Bible knowledge among young people.

THE GOOD 'SAM-ARITAN' OF SOMERSET (+ photo)

Sam, a Year 6 pupil at Farmborough C of E (VC) Primary School in Bath&North East Somerset acted as a 'Good Samaritan' recently. But it was not a stranger or an enemy that he rescued but a member of the OPEN THE BOOK Bible storytelling team that takes assemblies regularly in his school.

Pat, who reckons she is not in the first flush of youth had had a very nasty fall while walking on a path behind the village. She had hit her head, was bleeding, nastily bruised and unable to get to her feet. So she called out for help. When eventually she was heard, it was young Sam who came swiftly to her aid. He checked she was OK and ran to get some adult help.

Pat was quite badly injured and, as she said, "looked as if she'd gone a few rounds in the ring". Although she had to miss the next OPEN THE BOOK assemblies, when she returned to join the team, it concluded with a special presentation by Pat to Sam for his brave and prompt rescue efforts.

Head teacher, Anne Hewett, a warm supporter said: "OPEN THE BOOK brings the Bible alive for children in an enjoyable way and makes it relevant. So they are able to transfer the message to their everyday lives. We are all very proud of Sam because he acted out what he had learnt. OPEN THE BOOK contributes so well to the friendly family ethos of this church school."

(We are grateful to Sam's mother and his Head Teacher for giving permission for this to be published).

"BUT I CAN'T MISS OPEN THE BOOK!"

A recent story from a mum who has a child at one of our OPEN THE BOOK schools:

A friend of hers has a child who had to leave school early for a dentist's appointment. As it was nearly the end of the school day when the appointment was over, she would normally have simply taken her child straight home from the dentist. But her child insisted that they go back to the school, as they didn't want to miss the OPEN THE BOOK assembly.

"DEAR OPEN THE BOOK..."

During a 'how to write a letter' lesson, some 9 year old pupils at one primary school chose to write 'thank-you letters' to their OPEN THE BOOK Bible storytelling team. The following comments are drawn from these:

"I am writing to you to say thank you for your great assemblies. My favourite assemblies was when me and Sam were the guards and took Jesus away and I really injoyed taking part. All of you are really good at getting children involved in the assemblies you are also really active and cool."

"The stories you read are great about Jesus and Joseph and Mary from the Bible. You are good at acting and dressing up. The dressing up is nice for the audience to see how the characters look. Thank you for the stickers as well that we get at the end. I hope you keep doing it."

"I like the way you get children from other classes and they do the play with you. It must take you loads of time but you still get the costumes done in time. (It's just like Strictly Come Dancing... just without the posh dancing!). My favourite assembly was when you had a step-ladder and you glued twigs and leafs to it to make it into a tree which someone tried to hide in."

"My favourite story that you have done is David and Goliath because when Goliath gets hit down you jumped on the floor."

"There has been soooooo many great assemblies that I can't pick one out. But I liked the first assembly were you got lots of kids (including me) to come up and be animals. It was funny! I think it is good when you make the school make noises. So I hope you keep doing them."

"I am writing to say thank you for all the brilliant assemblies you do, because they are really enjoyable."

OPEN THE BOOK IN WELSH - BETWEEN THE BRECON BEACONS AND THE BLACK MOUNTAINS

We are grateful to Gill Madley, who has sent this account of how OPEN THE BOOK got started in the Crickhowell area, near Abergavenny, in South East Wales.

November 2007: I attended a training day in Bridgend, organised by the Children's Officer of the Llandaff Diocese. One of the seminars was OPEN THE BOOK. I was so impressed and excited by what I heard, that I persuaded our Rector that we should start as soon as possible in our local School.

Easter 2008: The school was due for an Estyn Inspection (the Welsh equivalent of Ofsted) and the headmaster couldn't get us in soon enough to start! We managed to organise a team of 5. Meanwhile, the Rector agreed with the Headmistress of Cwmdu Church in Wales Primary School that this was a good scheme for them too. He organised a team of 4 and they too got started immediately.

Although the material we use in the Assemblies is the same, the way each team presents the story is different. This is due to the differing personalities and the difference in the schools. Cwmdu is a small rural Church in Wales school with about 45 pupils and very limited space. The whole school assembly is held in a class room and there is little room to act out the stories. However in Crickhowell Primary, the team is able to use a full size stage and tries to make use of it all!

September 2008: Both schools were very enthusiastic that we return for the full three year programme and the children were really pleased to see us back after the summer holidays. We frequently hear in the corridors on Tuesday mornings "Oh good! It's OPEN THE BOOK today" and children stop us in the street to talk to us.

October 2008: Cwmdu School had their Estyn Inspection. One of the inspectors was a clergyman from Bangor Diocese. He was so impressed with the OPEN THE BOOK assembly that he arranged for the Year One Handbook to be translated into Welsh.

November 2008: Another team was in place to start OPEN THE BOOK in Llangynidr Primary School, along the valley from Crickhowell. We organised a meeting with Diane Richardson, the Welsh co-ordinator, to encourage the members of this team as they started and also to enthuse other people into starting OPEN THE BOOK in their areas.

July 2009: The Welsh-language first year hand book is due to be published and be ready to be used alongside Beibl Newydd Y Storïwr gan Bob Hartman for the new school year.

September 2009: A new school year and, hopefully, a new team will start in the Church in Wales Primary School in the small village of Llangattock, across the river from Crickhowell. There are several Welsh-medium primary schools around the Crickhowell area and we pray that we will find enough Welsh speakers to form teams for these schools too.

We know that the children of Swansea and Crickhowell are enjoying hearing the Bible stories through OPEN THE BOOK and we pray that it will play a significant part in their spiritual journeys. It is so exciting to think that every child in Wales could soon experience OPEN THE BOOK Assemblies in their first language, be it English or Welsh.

10TH ANNIVERSARY THANKSGIVING EVENT IN BEDFORD

Above Left: Left to right: Peter LeRoy (Chairman of Trustees), Dianne Brookes (National Co-ordinator), Sheila Lawless (Patron and pioneer), Judith Jeffery (Vice Chair of Trustees and pioneer), Leanne Long (Trustee).

Above: Two Patrons of Open the Book: Richard Inwood, Bishop of Bedford) and Bob Hartman (storyteller and author).

Left: Bob Hartman leading a Bible storytelling session.

About 170 OPEN THE BOOK supporters and storytellers gathered from across the country for a tenth birthday thanksgiving event at Brickhill Baptist Church, Bedford on 13th June 2009 - the place where OPEN THE BOOK had started. The day began with an uplifting service of thanksgiving to God for the growth of OPEN THE BOOK from its tiny 'mustard seed' beginnings in 1999.

There followed the story of how the original vision had been given, then a fascinating series of accounts from across the country from others who had become involved where OPEN THE BOOK had sprung into life. (e.g. from Derbyshire, Chester, Jersey, Gloucestershire, Coventry, Gairloch in Rosshire and Peterborough).

We then heard how the national development project had emerged and a team of trustees had been brought together to implement a common vision ("Enabling every child to hear the story of the Bible at school in their primary years"). A registered charity had then been established (2007), seed-corn funding had been provided, a National Co-ordinator (Dianne Brookes) had been appointed, and a national office opened.

A highlight was both an interview with our Patron, Bob Hartman and a lively storytelling session that got everyone fully engaged. Chairman of Trustees, Peter LeRoy gave an overview of developments and talked about the national scene. Sheila Lawless enabled a number of people to explain how OPEN THE BOOK had started in their area. Judith Jeffery then expressed thanks to all involved, and our Patron, Richard Inwood, Bishop of Bedford closed the event with a short act of worship.

The unanimous feelings were of joy, thanksgiving, immediate fellowship, amazement at the stories of God's gracious hand on the work and a greater sense of unity and partnership in the commission that had been given... to OPEN THE BOOK ever more widely.

ACROSS THE CHURCHES

OPEN THE BOOK has always been a non-denominational venture embracing volunteer storytellers from across the churches. We are delighted, for example, that the Head of a Catholic Primary School in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire has recently agreed to become a Patron of OPEN THE BOOK. Her school greatly values and enjoys the Bible storytelling assemblies provided by a team from the local Baptist church.

Similarly a number of teams are welcomed into R C Voluntary Aided primary schools elsewhere, for example in Bedfordshire and in Liverpool and Crosby.

INFORMATION LEAFLET FOR SCHOOLS

A new leaflet explaining the relevance and value to schools of OPEN THE BOOK has been published recently. If you are considering an approach to your local primary school, please contact the National Co-ordinator for copies.

THANK YOU!

A very big 'thank-you' to Bible Society, The Jerusalem, Joseph Rank, Slavanka and Deo Gloria Trusts for their generous grants that are enabling OPEN THE BOOK to develop as a national movement.

We are also to those individuals and churches who have sent in gifts in support of our vision. The trustees are deeply grateful. They intend that OPEN THE BOOK should become self-financing and dependent on its own supporters and supporting churches over the course of the next two years.