Our Tenant Involvement team is helping to inspire a love of reading by championing a brilliant community initiative.
Pontefract Reads is run by Anna Blight and Chris Bingham. The pair have distributed thousands of books to families in Pontefract for free through their bookcases, little libraries and stalls at events.
With the help of Tenant Involvement Officer (TIO), Claire Secker, Pontefract Reads will now be able to offer a new collection of books on diversity for children. Thanks to a £200 boost from Claire’s budget, the pair now have books with characters and themes covering disabilities, LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, race, gender and all types of families.
Community resilience celebrated at Love Where You Live Awards 2024
Their story began in the summer of the first lockdown when Anna installed a book box on the wall at the end of her garden to help with social isolation. Anna and Chris have children of a similar age and after seeing the impact the book box was having; they decided it was worth taking the idea out to the public.
The group’s first appearance at Pontefract Castle was well received and the initiative has since gone from strength to strength. After starting with just one book box, Pontefract Reads now offers reading material from Banks Avenue Little Free Library, St Mary's Community Centre and The Castle Coffee Shop at Pontefract Castle. Two more locations are also in the pipeline and Anna and Chris are involved in advising groups on children’s literacy.
Anna and Chris at our 2024 Love Where You Live Awards
The pair were recently recognised for their brilliant work at our annual Love Where You Live Awards. They came away as the winners of the public vote in the Arts and Culture category.
Despite its success, the group has run into some issues with its stock of books as it relies on donations which are often duplicated or not very diverse.
Chris said: “We don’t really have a budget that would allow us to do this normally. To go out and buy books that champion diversity means looking at newer titles and we wouldn’t have any way of guaranteeing that those books would come back to us.
“Sadly, that meant our stock of children’s books was a bit limited. It really was something that we were desperate to improve.”
Claire added: “As TIOs we have a small budget to help groups in our area with something specific. I’ve known Chris and Anna for years and after hearing about the issues they’d faced I asked if it was something we could help with.
“I suggested a Waterstones voucher and was over the moon that they thought it was a good idea. I hope this new collection helps more children build that love of reading which is so important.”
(L-R) Becky Maulkinson (Chair of Accessibility and Wellbeing ER) and Claire Secker (TIO) with Anna and Chris
The brand-new curated collection is now available through Pontefract Reads to be read and enjoyed, then returned to the little libraries or bookcases, so that other families can continue to read them. There's a sticker at the front of each book telling you how to do this.
Chris said: “It's very important for children to see themselves in books, with characters they can relate to and that look like them. National Literacy Trust’s Reading Trends Report 2023 showed that one in three children and young people aged 8-18 said that being given books or having books that represent them would make them want to read more.
“We’d love to keep offering more books like this to everyone that uses Pontefract Reads. We need help with our donations and we’re looking for children’s books, books covering diverse themes and any newer titles for adults too.”
To find out more about Pontefract Reads and how to donate, you can find the initiative on social media.