KIDS and grown-ups marked Chinese New Year in style yesterday as they celebrated the Year of the Dog by hosting a canine extravaganza.

Liden Library played host to a gaggle of excitable children eager to take part in doggy-related activities.

Today is officially the start of two weeks of celebrations that accompany Chinese New Year. And 2018, pooch lovers will be pleased to know, is the year of the doggy.

One of the star attractions was Marlborough children’s author Debi Evans, whose books featuring the antics of Rolo the time travelling Jack Russell are very popular among the kids.

Debi was speaking to the gathering about her latest book The Secret Adventures of Rolo, described as “a series of fantasy adventure books for all ages”.

Rolo acts as a vehicle for teaching children history and has told of his tales in Ancient Rome, Anglo Saxon Britain and on the Western Front.

Thrilled to have been asked to speak to the kids about all things canine, Debi said: “It’s a wonderful idea to do something like this for the children during half term.

“I’m hoping we will have a library full of children and that they will all fall in love with Rolo and his stories.”

She had prepared a tail-waggingly good PowerPoint presentation in a bid to bring the books to life and entertain the little ones.

Representatives of the Guide Dogs charity had even turned up so the kids could meet their top dogs.

Charity volunteer Judith Brady said: “It’s a real pleasure to have been asked to attend today to introduce the children to our dogs.

“We hope to be able to teach them a little bit about what we do and what we do with the dogs.”

Chinese New Year takes place on a different date each year, but New Year’s Day normally falls between January 21 and February 20.

The Chinese zodiac moves in a 12-year cycle, and 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994 and 2006 were also Dog years.

The event had been organised by borough councillor Dale Heenan. He said: “We are always trying to do things a little different to promote libraries, and as this year is the Year of the Dog, we thought it would be good to do something relating to dogs for kids and parents over the half-term break.”

Dale said that this will be the first event of many this coming year.