A HUSHED silence fell over a hall packed with young children when story time approached.

Children's Laureate Chris Riddell visited Florence Road Church Hall in Brighton to read from one of his award-winning books.

Mr Riddell, who lives in Brighton, took part in the book swap event to help raise money for charity Team Kenya and celebrate World Book Day. He also signed books and created illustrations.

Young children and their parents were invited to wear fancy dress, take part in face painting, arts and crafts and a raffle and other activities. Storyteller Amy Sutton from Sussex-based performance group Bard and Troubadour helped bring the fairytales to life.

Volunteer Isobel Elliott organised the event to invest in girls’ education in Kenya. The charity is dedicated to educating girls and helping the poor in the Ndhiwa district. Since 2013 it has supported more than 5,000 young people.

The event helped raise enough money to educate a girl in Kenya for six months.

Isobel, who will be visiting Kenya in April to see Team Kenya's work in action, said: "I am so grateful to all the people who turned out to support us, and to the local businesses who donated such generous raffle prizes."

Visit teamkenya.org.uk for more information.