Literacy Hero wows young audience at Bury Library

An award-winning story-teller from Bury has been impressing much younger audiences at Bury Library.

Richard O’Neill kindly donated his time to present a show for Year 5 classes from St Peter’s and Guardian Angels primary schools.

Richard is a Romany gypsy storyteller who has regularly held story-telling events at the library.

He has just been named as one of the nation's Literacy Heroes, alongside the likes of ‘Harry Potter’ author J.K. Rowling and ‘Happy Days’ star Henry Winkler, aka the Fonz.

The awards, the first of their kind, were presented by the Duchess of Cornwall. It was part of the National Literacy Trust’s campaign to find Britain’s Top 10 Literacy Heroes, and they were chosen because of the impact they have had on a community's reading and writing skills, or because they have overcome literacy problems of their own.

Richard performs a combination of stand-up comedy and storytelling based on some very real characters and incidents. He managed to combine Second World War rationing, caring for your neighbours and food nutrition and hygiene in one hilarious tale.

Mrs Barlow from Guardian Angels said: “The children behaved impeccably and loved every moment and could not stop talking about it. The session proved that stories like ‘Gran theft auto’ could be as much fun as playing electronic games.”

ENDS

Press release issued: 17 December 2013.

Picture attached: Story-teller Richard O’Neill enthrals local youngsters at Bury Library.