Young bookworms let imaginations run riot for World Book Day in 2007

Children from schools and nurseries across Furness marked the event by bringing their favourite books to life.

At Happy Tots Nursery in Abbey Road, Barrow, kids dressed as their favourite characters and had their faces painted.

Then in its tenth year, the UNESCO sponsored event was a celebration of books and reading, and was enjoyed in more than 100 countries.

Amanda Callow, lead practitioner for the pre-school class, said: We did an amusing story building game with the kids where they took turns to write the next paragraph of a story. The winners got book tokens."

Furness Childcare, in High Street, Barrow, celebrated the day by designing bookmarks and having role-playing games.

Team leader Joanne Walsh said: "The children sat in a circle and showed each other their favourite books, then we played a great game of bear hunt which they all loved."

A host of visiting authors, including Marvin Cheesman and Gareth Thompson, dropped in at Walney School to work with pupils on poetry, lyrics and storytelling.

Head of English Joanne Davies said: "We had a best dressed book character competition and the theme of books ran across all subjects, with a short story being read in stages at the start of lessons throughout the day."

Ulverston book lovers marked the day by snapping up books for a pound at the town's Tinners' Rabbit bookshop.

Also in 2007, hundreds of students tested their technology skills and ingenuity at a design and build competition.

The 116 students took part in the annual Rotary BAE Systems Technology Tournament, at Hawcoat Lane, in Barrow.

The district-wide event involved more than 100 schools and colleges from Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire and around 300 teams at 10 regional centre throughout the North West.

The annual event provided more than 1,000 students, aged between 13 and 19, with an exciting opportunity both for practicing team building and communication skills and problem solving, in a design technology environment.