TV presenter Nick Knowles has leant his support to the families of UK firefighters by recording a video readthrough of The Wolf Was Not Sleeping, a heart-warming children’s story from The Fire Fighters Charity and children’s author Avril McDonald.
Gifted free to members of the UK fire and rescue services community by The Fire Fighters Charity, the beautifully illustrated book – with a foreword kindly provided by HRH Duke of Cambridge – has been created to help fire and rescue service families to talk with their children, addressing any fears or anxieties young people may have about what firefighting family members may face in the course of their work.
Each book – which features the story of a wolf cub who finds it hard to sleep because his dad is a firefighter – is supplied with a reference sheet and link to a dedicated website page that contains advice and question prompts for families to use as they read the story with their children.
The Fire Fighters Charity Chief Executive, Dr Jill Tolfrey, said of Nick Knowles’ readthrough of The Wolf Was Not Sleeping: ‘We are enormously grateful to Nick for supporting the launch of this beautiful and important book.
‘While children can often see the lifesaving work of firefighters as heroic – whether supporting someone on the phone from the control centre or at the scene of an accident or fire – it can be unsettling and worrying for those children whose family members are leaving home each day to face unknown dangers. This story, and the resources that accompany it, will help adults to share the pride they feel in their work with the young people in their lives, while also opening up conversations with them about the children’s worries and anxieties.’
The original idea of New Zealand firefighter and father, Kris Kennett, The Fire Fighters Charity has 20,000 copies of The Wolf Was Not Sleeping – available in English and Welsh – free of charge to members of the UK’s fire services community.
For further details and to order a copy, visit www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/wolf-book
