Read Manchester and Manchester Libraries have been working with partners over the summer to deliver a huge number of books and resources to children in Manchester. More than 20,000 books have been gifted since Lockdown in March to help keep children reading.
This follows on from the Read Manchester ‘Bee Ready, Bee a Reader’ transition read which gifted a book to all year 6 pupils (find out more here).
Read Manchester and Manchester City Council have been working with partners including The National Literacy Trust, The Reading Agency, WHSmith, and KPMG over the summer to deliver these books and resources to children and families, including Early Years magazines, stationery packs and Creative Care Kits.
Organisations benefiting from the donations included playschemes, foodbanks, community groups, summer schools, SureStart Centres, refuges and youth groups, as well as families of children with special educational needs, who received an activity pack and craft materials. Library and Read Manchester staff have helped sort, choose and package the books for the various schemes.
Jo Warmington from MSC Foodbank said – ‘So excited to be sending all these books out with school holiday hunger packs next week. Thanks to Read Manchester, more children will have access to books at home this summer.’
Nick Coleman, Head of Community Engagement and Funding from N-Gage said: ‘Just wanted to say a big thank you for all of the books and resources that I picked up on Tuesday. Some of the books are big favourites for the Children, meaning that they will engage with some reading during the holidays.’
Manchester Young Lives said ‘We’ve been busy handing out reading packs, which include stationery and Summer Reading Challenge resources, from our friends at Read Manchester to the young people on our playschemes! Our young people loved them – BIG thanks to everyone involved!’Read our full press release here.