Children’s author Chris d’Lacey brought a fantasy world alive for pupils when he visited St Margaret’s Preparatory School, Calne, to open its new library.

Mr d’Lacey, best known for his series The Last Dragon Chronicles, spent the morning holding workshops with pupils from St Margaret’s and Cherhill Primary School. More than 100 children aged nine to 11 were enthralled to learn more about the quest by book character David Rain to save the tear of the last dragon, Gawain. Mr d’Lacey later joined guests including school governors and fundraisers to officially open the £250,000 library extension.

The walls of the library were transformed by community artist Josh Simpson who has created murals containing favourite book characters such as Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland. All 220 pupils from St Margaret’s plus staff attended. Mr d’Lacey unveiled a commemorative plaque of ‘Gruffen’, one his most popular dragon characters.

At the end of the afternoon parents were invited for a book signing by Mr d’Lacey, led by Jo Bachelor, owner of Devizes Books who has worked with the school on stocking the library. St Margaret’s headmistress Karen Cordon said: “We are delighted with our new library which will be a great resource for pupils for many years to come. “We work with Cherhill Primary School on a number of initiatives so we were pleased that their pupils could be involved in the inspiring workshops.” The school has bought a number of iPads which are linked to software which quizzes children on books they have read before they move on to new material.