Pupils at Newbarns Primary and Nursery School will have an extra incentive to read after a £1,000 donation for new books.

Les Hall, who is a local councillor and governor at the school, has donated his ward allowance for the year to the school to restock the popular vending machine.

Pupils are rewarded for work in class with tokens to use at the vending machine, in the school library, and can ‘buy’ books to keep.

Sci-fi fan Les, who represents Hawcoat and Newbarns ward on Westmorland and Furness Council, said he was delighted to be able to help.

“I’m an avid reader and when I saw one of the council’s aims was to increase literacy I decided to donate my ward allowance to the school for books.  The vending machine is a great idea to keep the pupils interested in books throughout school and I’m happy to support.”

Newbarns Headteacher Gary Birkett said: “This is a fantastic donation and we will be using it to increase the number of books available to our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.  We are very grateful as our pupils value their reading.  Our school’s librarian also ensures they have access to a wide range of resources.”

Newbarns Primary and Nursery School is a member of South Cumbria Multi-Academy Trust.