Dagenham pupils given personalised dictionaries by Rotarians

Melissa York

Published: 6:03 PM July 29, 2013

Updated: 9:58 AM October 13, 2020

Four of the new proud owners of the dictionaries, from left, Kerran Browne, Chanice Edwards, Bayleigh Gladden and Anita Adiki with Rotarians, from left, Bob Okeefe, Denis Riley and John Davis. - Credit: Archant

Pupils did not struggle to find the words to say thank you to the Rotary Club after each was given a personalised dictionary to prepare them for secondary school.

Four of the new proud owners of the dictionaries, from left, Kerran Browne, Chanice Edwards, Bayleigh Gladden and Anita Adiki with Rotarians, from left, Bob Okeefe, Denis Riley and John Davis. - Credit: Archant

Around 120 children leaving Grafton Primary School, in Grafton Road, Dagenham, were presented with the tomes by Bob O’Keeffe, past president of the Club, in the presence of John Davis, Rotarian and former Mayor of Dagenham. on Monday July 22.

For the second year running, Martin Nicholson, headteacher at Grafton Primary, thanked the Rotary Club of Dagenham for the dictionaries and for supporting his pupils.

Dagenham Rotary Club treasurer Arun Patel said: “A dictionary, unlike a web search, will stay with you for a longer period and when you look at it there is a tendency to use it.

“We feel it has an aura of importance about it.

“Quite often kids are reluctant to break with a new world and this is to help them go through it.

“When I came to England in 1970 I had no English and my centre point was a dictionary. I value this very much and I hope the kids will use it.”