All smiles as children's author Tom Palmer visits Longridge primary school

Tom Palmer, a children’s author of more than 40 books about football rugby and historical novels based around the First World War, visited St Wilfrid’s RC Primary School in late February to talk about his exciting life as an author and how his books are created from initial drafts to the final published product.

Tom – who describes himself as an author, football fan and a reader whose life was changed through reading about football – led sessions for each year group on how to develop their English skills and how children could use historical artefacts to inspire their own writing development and styles.

10-year-old student Harry Bradbury said: “I found out loads of useful things to help me with my writing and so did the rest of my class.

“We were all really pleased with the experience.”

11-year-old James Pendlebury said: “I was inspired when he told us how to write stories. I wanted to write more and more.”

10-year-old Grace Cronshaw said: “All of the children in our school were inspired by how a real author plans, writes and publishes his books.”

Tom was visiting St Wilfrid’s to promote reading for pleasure in his role as Patron of Reading of the school and was thrilled to see the school’s new library shelves, especially the one dedicated to his own books.

Year Six Teacher at St Wilfrid’s, Liz Hindley, said: “The feedback from all of the children was incredibly positive, and both they and Tom had a wonderful day.

“The children came up with some great questions for Tom and were fascinated by the level of research and planning which goes into his books.”