RUGBY players swapped their boots for books as they took the chance to get involved in a reading event.

The Oxford Children's Book Group marked national non-fiction November with a storytelling and reading day at Oxford Rugby Club in North Hinksey on Sunday.

The Lads 'n Dads event also welcomed mums, sisters and women's rugby players as well.

Moira da Costa of the Oxford Children's Book Group ran a stall of mainly non-fiction books and its resident storyteller Bill Laar hosted a short rugby quiz and read aloud some 'back-to-front' traditional tales such as Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.

The event aimed to get more youngsters into books, citing research that found teenage students whose parents had read to – and with – them during their first years at primary school did much better in tests.

Mr Laar said: "The best things about books and stories is not just that they help you do well, they open up new worlds for us all and take us on exciting journeys of imagination and adventure.

"Whether through fact or fantasy, they can broaden our mind and widen our world."