A power cut failed to stop the children reading on World Book Day, although already postponed because of the snow.

Children from Kingswear Primary School dressed up as their favourite characters in a book and came to Cafe Alf Resco to treat their customers to a reading. A power cut just as the children arrived allowed candlelit reading to add some magic to the children’s stories.

One of the older customers who enjoyed listening to the children’s’ readings was Sam Weller. Sam is 90 in April and has lives in Dartmouth after moving from Kingsbridge. He was born in Burford where he married his childhood sweetheart. Sam became a bank manager, first working in Oxford before moving top Cornwall and then finally to Devon. A widower for the last 12 years, Sam was sat between two of the children who took turns to read to him. His face was a picture of concentration and delight.

There were five other clusters of adults and children, the former listening and latter reading out loud. It was a magical role reversal in the atmospheric, candle-lit cafe. At another school, based on the opposite side of the Dart, children from St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School dressed up as their favourite characters in a book to celebrate their World Book day.