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Winter 2020RAFC players read dinosaur story for schools

Footballers record story of swashbuckling pirate dinosaurs for schoolchildren

Three Rochdale AFC players sat down last month to record a story time session for Rochdale primary schools, and met Dippy the Dinosaur, whose visit to the Rochdale council offices in Rochdale town centre has been extended until 12 December.

Usually, Rochdale AFC players would visit local schools but due to the coronavirus pandemic, they have been unable to do this, or be out and about in the community.

This hasn’t stopped the club coming up with new ways for the players to engage with the area’s younger residents and encourage children to be enthusiastic about reading.

Ollie Rathbone, RAFC captain Eoghan O’Connell and Jimmy Keohane visited Dippy the Dinosaur at Number One Riverside and recorded a book with a dinosaur theme, bringing ‘Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: Smugglers Bay’ by Giles Andreae to life.

The story time session, aimed at Year 1 and Year 2 pupils, was filmed by the media team from Rochdale AFC and will be distributed to the borough’s primary schools by Rochdale Council.