world book day at Signature

World Book Day was created on 23rd April 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and later celebrated in the UK and Ireland in 1997 to encourage young people to discover the pleasure of reading. World Book Day changes lives through a love of books and shared reading. The mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own.

Reading makes one’s power of imagination stronger and more creative. Reading can help enhance the knowledge of children from an early age, helping them to pronounce words appropriately and improve their vocabulary. In face unwinding with a good book is perfect whatever your age and even more ideal in later life where a calmer pace of life is much deserved.

Some Residents of Signature at Hendon Hall went to The Orion Primary School for World Book Day. Children sat individually with them to read.

Resident Adair was happy to go into a classroom and give the children an opportunity to ask him questions:

Kian:How old are you?

Adair: 89 years old

Urvee: What’s was your favourite sport growing up?

Adair: Rugby. It’s interesting how the name came about. It originated from a school called Rugby. One child got bored of kicking the ball and decided to pick it up and start running with it.

Tingino: What job did you do before you retired?

Adair: I was a bomber commander. I studied a lot in many universities, and then became an astronaut as I enjoyed studying the stars.

Adam: How do you refuel whilst flying?

Adair: 2 planes must fly really close to each other at the same speed. The plane that is refuelling is slightly faster and then slows down when the hose is in line with the other plane. It locks in and the pilot releases the fuel from one plane to the other.

Zidane: Do you have a lot of friends and what’s important to you? Yes I have friends. To have a friend is to believe what they are telling you, that you can trust. You must be able to understand and trust what he is saying is true. They are always there for you when you need them.

Thabha: What was your favourite toy when you were younger?

Adair: It belonged to my cousins who was 5 years older than me. It was an electric train. I used to love starting and stopping the engine and connecting it all up.

Nibras: What made you want to join the RAF?

Adair: I was in the Merchant Navy as Novato as an officer. I then thought it would be interesting to do this with planes. So I joined the RAF.

Yanis: Have you visited many countries?

Adair named all of them across the whole world!

Max: Were you involved in any wars?

Adair No, because WWII ended in 1945 and I was only 11 years old then!

Teacher, Miss Morgan: I had a friend in the RAF and they had a large collection of coins. Do you have a collection?

Adair: I do have a collection of stamps and foreign currencies.