Attempt to be record-breaking story tellers (From The Oxford Times)

Attempt to be record-breaking story tellers

6:00pm Monday 11th February 2013 in News

YOUNGSTERS at an Abingdon school have taken part in a national record breaking storytelling attempt.

The event aimed to break the Guinness World Record for the most number of people writing a story at multiple venues.

Eighty students, from Year Four to the sixth form at Our Lady’s Abingdon, joined students from 130 schools across the country in the attempt.

The mammoth story, launched by novelist Matt Haig, began with a child discovering his parents are aliens.

Youngsters then took it in turns to add two sentences at each school.

Our Lady’s librarian Barbara Hickford said she did not yet know if the record, currently 953 people, had been broken.

She said: “It was a wonderful opportunity to involve students in an event that shows reading and writing can be fun.

“It was started by the Year Four pupils, Then it got a bit more mature and blood-thirsty as the older students took part.”

Anna Galpin, 10, said: “It was very exciting.

“I liked that the children from the senior and junior school could join in.”

The nationwide event was organised by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.