Open the Book is an organisation providing access for schools to bible stories provide by local volunteers. In 1999 a small group of church volunteers started going into primary school assemblies in Bedford to read and act out stories using The Lion Storyteller Bible. After being inspired by this, the project spread into Gloucestershire in 2001, and shortly after that the idea was taken up by the Duffield Deanery in Derbyshire. Later, in 2007, a national charity was formed. With increasing growth of volunteer numbers into the thousands, OtB joined Bible Society in 2013 and the national organisation is 20 years old in 2019.
There have been teams of volunteers going into schools in the area of the Derwent Valley between Allestree and Belper ever since the start from the Duffield Deanery, and on June 28th representatives from the various teams met up in Belper for a celebration tea party.