PUPILS have been celebrating the transformation of a bus into a library, becoming their new hub for books and learning resources.

St Osmund’s Catholic Primary School officially launched the library bus on Friday, March 4.

The school was successful in a £10,000 National Lottery bid which, along with a further £2,500 raised by the school community, has refurbished the bus into the permanent library space.

With the bus donated by Salisbury Reds, operations manager David Newton said he was “delighted to join pupils to see the new library bus in all its glory”.

He said: “The bus was actually donated before the Covid-19 pandemic, but this is the first chance we’ve had to all gather and view it.

"The school and pupils have done an amazing job transforming it into a wonderful resource. The design, both inside and out, is wonderful.”

Richard Sanderson, headteacher at St Osmund’s, added: “We are so grateful to Salisbury Reds and Salisbury Signs for all the support they have given us with our exciting library bus project.

"We are also indebted to our most amazing site manager, Mr Hartley, who almost single-handedly transformed the bus and has given it a new lease of life.

"It is our dream to give all the children in the school a wonderful library filled with exciting and engaging books, and Salisbury Reds has helped make this dream a reality.”

The launch event was attended by the mayor and deputy mayor of Salisbury, Caroline and Tom Corbin, who had the honour of cutting the ribbon, as well as representatives from Salisbury Reds, Salisbury Signs, parents, governors and pupils.

Representing the librarians and pupils of the school, Margot, Year 6, said: “We cannot wait to be able to use our library bus fully after such a long time.

"The library bus is one of our favourite places in school and over the last few weeks, as librarians and some of us as school council members, have been working hard to get it ready for us all to enjoy again.

"What we would like most of all is for the library bus to be something we can enjoy this year and forever now, without any interruptions or lock downs. So from all of the librarians and school council members - let’s get reading!"

Get more Salisbury news. 

You can also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date, as well as signing up for one of our newsletters.

If you want online news with fewer ads, unlimited access and reader rewards - plus a chance to support our local journalism - find out more about registering or a digital subscription.

Email newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk with your comments, pictures, letters and news stories.