More than 240 primary school leavers in Letchworth have received free dictionaries donated by Rotarians.

The Rotary Club of Letchworth Garden City gave the dictionaries to Year 6 leavers at Grange Junior School, Pixmore Junior School, Stonehill School and Wilbury Junior School.

The children received copies of the Usborne Illustrated Dictionary as part of Rotary’s Dictionary 4 Life project.

Terry Pitton, who is head of youth services at the club, said: “We encourage the children to use and refer to their dictionary as they go forward to their senior schools.

“The dictionaries have our Rotary label, and the school staff have written in the children’s names so that each one is personalised.

“In this age of hi-tech it is illuminating to see the children’s faces when they have a printed book in their hands to refer to.

“I’ve had parents come up to me after presentations to say: ‘You presented a dictionary to my child’s brother or sister two years ago and they still use it every week doing their homework.’”

The Rotary Club of Letchworth Garden City holds fundraising events throughout the year, particularly to fund the purchase and donation of these dictionaries – a project it has been taking part in for the past five years.

Rotary donates these dictionaries all over the world. This year clubs across the globe are hoping to donate about 200,000 of them.

Terry added: “In some of the remote parts of Africa. some of the children are lucky if they can go to a village school and they perhaps share just one open-air classroom on different days of the week.

“I’ve seen photos of schools with rows of small tables and four children all squeezed around each table sharing a single Rotary book – the dictionary for life.”

To find out more about the Rotary Club of Letchworth Garden City, see lgcrotary.org.uk.