Open the Book (OtB) teams have been active on the Isle of Man for ten years now and the ministry has been incredibly fortunate during the Covid pandemic. Due to effective border controls, OtB has been in schools throughout the autumn term. Some of the keenest teams even got back to storytelling before the summer holidays when schools returned in June! Although we missed a few weeks in January for a circuit-breaker lockdown, we have now returned.
The Isle of Man has 32 primary schools, all of which have had OtB teams visiting. Most have monthly stories from one of the ten teams on the Island.
This September, at our yearly training event, we had five new Storytellers join the ranks on the Isle of Man, all of whom have been enjoying their new roles. Some of these new team members, along with some more long-standing members, were able to help at a separate RE curriculum day during the autumn term. The team members enjoyed being able to spend more time with the children, and the children enjoyed chatting with the Storytellers and remembering their favourite stories.
As we look forward in 2021 the OtB teams are aware of how blessed they are to be continuing to tell stories in person in each of the schools and we hope that you will able to join us soon being back in the assembly hall of your local school.
The photo shows the Ramsey Team; they had been telling the story of Esther and Mordecai just before Christmas at several primary schools in the north of the Island. From left to right: Horrible Haman (Phil), Narrator (Julia), Intro and conclusion (Andrew), the King (Michael), Mordecai (John), cheer (and boo) leader (Christine), Esther (Sue).
