Get set for another Big Reading Challenge in Dispatch district

Nottingham City Council is holding another Big Reading Challenge in a bid to raise funds for a charity that gives free books to children in the city.
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Coun David Mellen (Lab), the council leader, and Coun Cheryl Barnard (Lab), portfolio holder for children and young people, along with other councillors and officers, will be reading stories to local children in schools, nurseries and libraries across Nottingham – as well as visiting a few extra-special locations.

Running from Monday, November 22 to Friday, November 26, the Big Reading Challenge aims to raise more than £5,000 for the Imagination Library, an amazing scheme that delivers a free book every month to local children from birth up to five years of age.

Couns Mellen and Barnard will launch the challenge by reading to a group of children from Middleton Primary and Nursery School in Wollaton in the ‘Titus T. Rex is King’ exhibition room at Wollaton Hall.

The Big Reading Challenge takes place in Nottingham next weekThe Big Reading Challenge takes place in Nottingham next week
The Big Reading Challenge takes place in Nottingham next week

Coun Mellen said: “The Imagination Library is proven to improve children’s literacy levels.

"There are currently more than 5,600 Nottingham children registered with the Imagination Library scheme, but we want to do more.

"Our ambition is for every child in Nottingham to get a free book every month, but we need to raise funds to make this happen.

“Given the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on children’s learning and wellbeing, we want to raise even more than previous Big Reading Challenges.

"We’re asking for as many people as possible to support us, so the Imagination Library can continue to give Nottingham children the best start in life.”

The council’s involvement with the Imagination Library started in 2011, following a ‘Year of Reading’, and the scheme is now running successfully in ten of the city’s 20 wards.

Supported by Nottingham Rotary Club, Small Steps Big Changes and hundreds of individual sponsors, more than 5,600 children aged 0–5 currently receive the books each month.

The Imagination Library relies on donations to help parents and children enjoy exploring books together – £2 pays for a child to get a new book, £25 pays for a new book every month for a year and £125 pays for a new book every month from birth until age five.

To support this year’s Big Reading Challenge click here.

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