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Local authors and BBC Radio stars Greg James and Chris Smith at a reading event with local schoolchildren (photo: Get Hastings Reading).

Local authors and BBC Radio stars Greg James and Chris Smith at a reading event with local schoolchildren (photo: Get Hastings Reading).

New campaign wants you to drop everything and read!

Drop everything and read! That’s the message from the National Literacy Trust, who want as many as possible in the town to stop what they are doing at 2pm today, Friday 12 July, and spend 10 minutes reading. Nick Terdre reports.

“We know that reading a little and often can make a huge impact on both children and adults,” said Graeme Quinnell, manager of the Get Hastings Reading campaign. “We want as many people as possible across Hastings to join our Drop Everything and Read moment today, but we don’t want them to stop there – we want Hastings to read every day and fall in love with reading this summer.”

The Drop Everything and Read event is part of the Get Hastings Reading campaign mounted by the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity working with schools and communities to give disadvantaged children the literacy skills to succeed in life, and Hastings Opportunity Area, one of 12 educational opportunity areas established by the Department for Education “to unlock the potential of young people through education.”

The event also marks the launch of a partnership between the trust and Bloomsbury Publishing, which brought the world the Harry Potter books.

Also participating in the event are Hastings authors and BBC Radio stars Greg James and Chris Smith, MP Amber Rudd, White Rock Youth Theatre, Robsack Wood Primary Academy, Stagecoach, Battersby’s Fish & Chip Shop, Mr He’s Kitchen and other local schools and businesses.

Bloomsbury author and poet AF Harrold, who wrote the Fizzlebert Stump books and the The Imaginary, will lead a reading and writing workshop for students from Hastings Academy and Churchwood Primary Academy.

DEAR image 350Reading benefits

Research shows that reading for as little as 10 minutes every day has an important impact on how well a child does at school, while reading can help adults to relax, relieves stress and improves empathy, the trust says.

Over the next year, the campaign will see the trust and Bloomsbury Publishing working together to “ignite a sense of magic and enjoyment of reading in people of all ages across the town, with author visits, book give-aways and unique access to the inspiring world of publishing.”

Bloomsbury have donated free access to Bloomsbury Early Years – “an innovative online resource with over 2,500 activities written by trusted authors” – to early years settings in Hastings. The resource will be distributed by the area’s Early Years Improvement team, enabling thousands of local children aged 0-5 to benefit.

The trust encourages you to show your support by posting on social media with #DEARHastings and #GetHastingsReading. Find out more from the Get Hastings Reading website.

 

 

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Posted 10:32 Friday, Jul 12, 2019 In: Young People

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