Families enjoyed a picnic in the park with Bookstart Bear to celebrate the joys of reading.

Youngsters at Allerton Children’s Centre were treated to a train journey from Bradford to Bingley yesterday to mark National Bookstart Week, which this year has the theme All Aboard.

Bookstart encourages parents to share books with their children from an early age.

The families from Allerton attended a picnic in Myrtle Park, followed by a storytelling session at Bingley Library.

Each family who took part in the day’s activities was also given a copy of the Bookstart All Aboard story book.

Head of Allerton Children’s Centre, David Morrison, said activities around Bookstart would continue over the next two weeks and would include the creation of a large mural telling the story of the trip.

He said: “It was absolutely wonderful and we had a superb day. We were blessed with the weather.”