EMPLOYEES at Drax Power Station have been putting their energy into supporting each other's families during lockdown.

About 40 people working for Drax Group have each read and recorded a few chapters of popular children's books for a storytime audio library project.

The audio library has been launched during National Storytelling Week, with the stories posted on the Drax Group employee intranet service for people to download and listen to at home. If popular, further stories will be recorded with titles chosen via an online ballot.

The energy company run Drax Power Station which is the UK’s largest single site renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe following its conversion from coal to use sustainable biomass.

Chief executive officer Will Gardiner, who recorded the first chapter of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, said: “The idea to record the stories for children came about because we wanted to bring people together and help each other out during the lockdown.

“Telling stories is something us humans have been doing for literally thousands of years, it brings people together and creates a shared experience, which is something I think we’re all missing, to some extent, at the moment. Reading or listening to a story is a great way to escape into another world. I’ve always enjoyed reading to my own children when they were younger and I hope the recordings will provide others at Drax and their families with some entertainment, and make us all feel a little closer together, even though we are apart in lockdown.”

The first two books are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Ice Monster by David Walliams.

During the Covid pandemic, Drax has supported the communities it operates in through a number of initiatives, including donating over 850 laptops with internet access to schoolchildren across Britain who were unable to learn from home, supplying free energy to 170 care homes and backing a business debtline to offer support for small businesses.