This month marks 10 years since Andrew launched the Goole and Snaith Imagination Library scheme at an event at Marshlands Children’s Centre, Old Goole.
Andrew reports, “As residents may know, through the programme, a free age-appropriate book is delivered in the post every month to enrolled children, from birth until their fifth birthday.
“This wonderful initiative was originally established by Dolly Parton in her home state of Tennessee, USA, where she grew up in poverty along with her 11 brothers and sisters. Dolly set the scheme up with a view to encouraging children to read with their parents/guardians and inspire a love of reading from an early age. I raise all the funding for this locally myself and have had great support from local funds such as wind farm funds and my team in helping write bids and administer the scheme.”
“We know from data collected in North Lincolnshire (where I took the idea of the scheme to the Conservative-run council, who agreed to roll the scheme out to children across North Lincs) that it makes a real difference to a child's starting points at school, and those who have been part of the scheme achieve significantly greater levels of literacy than those who do not register. Feedback I have received from local parents has shown just how thoroughly enjoyed the books are and that being enrolled in the programme has increased the amount of time parents and children spend reading together.
“Since launching in October 2012, around 10,000 books have been gifted to many hundreds of children in Goole and Snaith. Globally, the programme has gifted an incredible 190 million books since its inception!
“We do still have a few more places available after receiving some recent funding. Please email me on brigg.goole@gmail.com if you live in the Goole and Snaith area (East Riding part of my constituency) and we should be able to sign you up.”
Photo – the below photo is from the initial launch of the Goole and Snaith scheme in 2012
