The Reader Organisation Annual Report

2010/2011

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The Reader Organisation Annual Report 2010/11

CONTENTS2 9 19 29 39 49 51 53 54 Introduction Literature Facilitator Group Support Environment Trustees and Staff Funders and Commissioners Business Aims Finances

INTROduCTIONTHE BLURB

Becoming What We AreJane Davis, DirectorWe become what we are. Nietzsches aphorism came to mind when I sat down to write this introduction, because 2010/2011 seems, in retrospect, to have been a year in which The Reader Organisation grew into itself: a number of major initiatives marked a sort of coming of age. Research In November 2010 Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute (LivHIR) published a report into our work, An Investigation into the therapeutic benefits of reading in relation to depression and well-being, which found four significant factors in the success of the GIR model:

a rich diet of serious literature the expert presence of the group facilitator the role of the group itself the environment or location of the group

Our Annual Report 2010/11 reflects these key findings and shows what they mean for our day-to-day work in case studies, testimonials and highlights from the year. (The full report is available on our website: www.thereader.org.uk/research/). The report has already opened up new areas for us, and lays the basis for a larger study to which we look forward to contributing. Organisational Development Within the organisation, we have been creating procedures to ensure we can fully evaluate the work we do. Guided by trustee Josephine Burns, and led internally by our Business Manager, Zoe Gilling, the resulting Reader

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INTROduCTIONTHE BLURB

Pies (p. 38) show how valuable this work has been. We began working towards the nationally-recognised PQASSO Quality Mark, an external verification of the quality and credibility of our organisation. Trustee Susan Rutherford helped set up Personal development Planning, which has formalised The Reader Organisations long-standing and significant investment in staff development. The PdP process has already had major impact and assisted in significant organisational growth. Merseyside Community Theatre: Romeo and Juliet at the Fire Station Working on this massive project, in partnership with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, was a big step-up for The Reader Organisation and we learned a lot. But I was just as proud of some of the less visible community work that took place in the six months lead up to the fireworks of the show. A project worker, visiting an old lady in a care home, read aloud at her bedside. After a while the lady made signs that she wanted her oxygen mask off, then recited in her tiny voice, I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely seas and sky Now thats what I call a community reading project.

Not many would have given us the chance to shine. Now, for the first time in a long time, good things are being reported about the area and everyone is buzzing. A great positivity seems to be in the air. local resident

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INTROduCTIONCreating Jobs Merseyside Community Theatre (MCT) was made possible by the Future Job Fund scheme, which opened our organisational eyes to the possibilities of work placements: our internship programme grew directly from it. In addition, The Reader Organisation was able to offer four on-going jobs to Niall, Tony, Bev and Vic, who have each made a big contribution to our work. Sticking was always a hard thing to do for me. Im not sure why but there was just something about The Reader Organisation that made me want to stick. Niall Gibney What we learned from MCT is that jobs matter. Winning financial support for a three-year contract for Niall Gibney was one of the best outcomes from MCT, and has already led to a second such contract for another young person but more of that in next years report. The point is, becoming what we are can be surprising: whod have thought that Shakespeare could lead to jobs? Publications The idea of a Reader book has been in the air for a while, but it took the dedicated commitment of my long-time colleague, Angela Macmillan, to make that fantasy a 464-page reality. The publication of A Little, Aloud in November marked a breakthrough for The Reader Organisation (p.16). This collection of short stories and poems was chosen by Waterstones as one of their Books of the Year, and we had tremendous responses and support from authors from Stephen Fry to Howard Jacobson, to say nothing of Joanna Trollope who bundled herself up to snowy Nottinghamshire one december night to help us promote the book in Lowdham. Its been responses from readers, though, that have been the real highlights. A reader writes on our A Little, Aloud blog: These are probably the most precious moments I have with my mother now. They bring us very close to each other. A wonderful donation from one of our writer-supporters, Frank Cottrell Boyce, was the manuscript of The Unforgotten Coat, which we sold

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INTROduCTIONTHE BLURB

to Walker Books. The fee financed our enormous Our Read 50,000book giveaway (pp. 1415) and, like A Little, Aloud, leaves us a legacy of income for years to come. Social Entrepreneurship Our team has proved itself dedicated and hardworking from the word go. A distinctly entrepreneurial flair was added this year as we faced the great challenge of the recession, asking each other to come up with new ideas for income-generation that would support our social ambitions. The Reader Organisation has proved itself resourceful and creative, winning an award from The Morgan Foundation (Best Entrepreneurial Charity or Social Enterprise in Liverpool). Im proud and grateful to work with such inventive and dedicated colleagues and trustees.

Morgan Foundation Awards Chris Catterall, Jane davis and Steve Morgan

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INTROduCTION CommunicationsJen Tomkins, Communications ManagerIn June 2010 we were visited on set at Croxteth Fire Station by Sonja Sohn from The Wire, bringing us national media attention: a four minute feature on Channel 4 news and a piece in the Guardian. These were just a couple of our 98 known media appearances in 2010/11, which we estimate enabled us to reach over 9 million people: 44 of those were national or international, including a feature in The Times Body and Soul section by Jeanette Winterson, a spread in The Independents Saturday Magazine by Brian Viner, a major article in The Irish Times by Ann Marie Hourihane and features on Radio 4s Open Book and Midweek shows. We also contributed articles to 14 journals, including Mental Health Today, The Journal of Dementia Care and Nursing Standard. Each quarter we circulated 1,500 copies of The Reader magazine and, so far, weve sold 5,000 copies of A Little, Aloud. We also have a growing online presence with over 200,000 visitors to our website and blog this year.

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INTROduCTION ANNuAL REPORT DevelopmentChris Catterall, National Development ManagerThis year was one of our most successful, with growth of 57%, driven by the following major developments:

expanding Get Into Reading into the South West of England, achieved with funding from The Tudor Trust launching our National Model project in Wirral with funding from Wirral MBC and Wirral PCT delivering a national research project, in partnership with the department of Justice Severe Personality disorder Team, in prisons in Belfast and durham diversifying our income away from the public sector, through new contracts with Bupa and Tesco

TrainingCasi Dylan, Training ManagerThis year 240 people did Read to Lead training; 87 attended workshops, and 44 came to Masterclasses. But its not in numbers that weve felt the scale of what Read to Lead is achieving. As I sat in Aarhus, denmark, observing one of our training courses in October 2010, run with vision and skill by Mette Steenberg and Karen Marie Larsen of our danish sister-project Laeseforeningen (The Reading Society), I saw that shared reading was alive in them, growing new roots, now in denmark. I did not need to understand the words to understand what was happening. Pass it on, boys, pass it on.

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For the first 20 minutes or so the residents were distracted and not really engaged. Then, quite spontaneously, they all started to talk either about memories that had been prompted by the poem, or disagreements over what the poem was saying. One woman read it herself out loud, beautifully. In every case their minds focused and they came alive. Jeanette Winterson, The Times8

LiteratureEssential element

A rich, varied, non-prescriptive diet of serious literature, including a mix of fiction and poetry (the former fostering relaxation and calm, the latter encouraging focused concentration). Both literary forms allowed participants at once to discover new, and rediscover old and / or forgotten, modes of thought, feeling and experience.(LivHIR final report, An investigation into the therapeutic benefits of reading in relation to depression and wellbeing)

Our reading groups might tackle The Epic of Gilgamesh, or Mitch Alboms The Five People You Meet In Heaven, The Winters Tale by Shakespeare, or Frank Cottrell Boyces Millions. Whatever the book, the focus is on the felt experience and shared meaning created by the readers. 9

LITERATuRE

Books that WorkAngela Macmillan, Editor, A Little, Aloud and Get Into Reading FacilitatorYou read this it touches you and you realise how much you have been longing for it. GIR member, Redholme Memory Care Home, Liverpool The right book doesnt address a known need for something that is absent (like a hunger for food), but rather wakes up a longing you may not even have been aware of feeling, and paradoxically its the presence of the effect that alerts you to the want of it. But the question remains, what is it in great literature that unlocks this yearning that more obviously approachable books cannot reach? Books that work do so because they are richer, deeper and more complex. They challenge us to wonder more, to question, to remember, to feel. You have to turn up in person in order to meet whats there on the page or, in the GIR model, alive in the room. It is not simply a matter of what the great books bring to us but what we must bring to the reading. The GIR method entwines those three things: the reading aloud of great books, the presence of a skilled facilitator, and the support of a group as a way to meet the challenge. Sustained concentration may be hard for many Get Into Reading members for all sorts of reasons because of the distractions of life, health, age, anxiety. Here is George Eliot: The only effect I ardently long to produce by my writings is that those who read them should be better able to imagine and to feel the pains and joys of those who differ from themselves in everything but the broad fact of being struggling, erring human creatures.

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LITERATuRE

Many of our reading group members will never have heard of George Eliot, her life, or her great reputation. What is important to these readers is that when they read Silas Marner, for example, they are able to feel (notice George Eliot says feel and not understand: heart before head) through her writing, the reality of the pains and joy of someone far removed from their own lives. Eliots novels are not an easy read but they work by making primary human connection from one creature to another through language. Sometimes, of course, the language is not easy. On our own, we may well give up on a hard poem or book, with all the attending sense of failure. The great thing about shared reading, however, is not having to face the difficulty on your own. Good books are meeting grounds between writer and reader, and between the readers sharing the book together. But the meeting ground (the book) is not a limited space; it expands as more people put their minds to it. Shared reading means we are all in it together, giving and taking and allowing the book to open up in discussion. I never thought there would be so much in it, is an exclamation that entirely proves the value of reading groups. As Maryanne Wolf says in Proust and the Squid, Reading literature offers exposure to both the communality and the uniqueness of our thoughts. This prospect may be thrilling, in the sense that literature allows us to go beyond our limitations, but also a little frightening. Writers such as Shakespeare, dickens or Tolstoy deal with big intractable personal matters that we can humanly recognise. The LivHIR study has demonstrated that reading in the GIR model is directly beneficial in respect of depression but still its not a prescribed intervention, nor is it like CBT a conscious assault against the sea of troubles. In the GIR model, a reader can either leave matters safely in the book or haul them out into the open for discussion; its up to them. Books are a holding ground in which to do our life thinking both separately and together. One significant effect is that books are profoundly normalising; they are able to show that what the individual might have felt to be isolating and

un-shareable has been felt and is felt by others too. And not only this, it is a big enough subject for literature.

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LITERATuRE

The last years spent with the reading group have been some of the most memorable and happiest hours of my life.12

THE REAdER MAGAZINE

The Reader is our quarterly literary magazine, first published in 1997, which aims to bring new poetry, fiction, thought-pieces and news from the world of The Reader Organisation to a wider audience. Edited by Professor Philip davis and featuring a great team of regular writers, the magazine showcases new writers alongside fine established poets, novelists and thinkers of our own day and the great artists of the past.the reader no. 41

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This years contributors have included Tessa reader Kinsella, Blake Hadley, John Morrison, Sonja Sohn, Raymond Tallis and Salley Vickers.

new writing / book talk / news and reviews

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no. 41

reader

e of the Coalitions promised Subscribe online: mental health money to build l new readers libraries. they www.thereader.org.uk/ chens and band practice and magazine s and volunteers and they will . they will have readers. they omfy, non-institutional chairs. en their doors to the poor and sed and the staff will leave g and go out and meet those here they are, and then invite One back to library for lunch. of the most lively,

intelligent and properly is, all together now, p.109 varied literary magazines around full of confirmations, as well as surprises. ng For wellbeing onal get into reading Conference Andrew Motion

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the doCtors raYMond tallis ChristoPher dowriCk Jo Cannon the nUrse lYnne hatwell the Poets John kinsella derYn rees-Jones & the aCtors riChard briers Janet sUZMan

17th May 2011 see p.3 For details

www.thereader.org.uk

Uk 6.95 Us $9.95

Just what real readers really need good writing and good thinking about writing and reading. A. S. Byatt

spring 2011

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OuR REAd

WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE DAY? I WOULD MAKE IT GO SLOWER.

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OuR REAd

Frank Cottrell Boyce wrote The Unforgotten Coat especially for us, with original photography by Carl Hunter and Clare Heney, to help tell the story. His gift enabled us to give away 50,000 free copies of this great book for Our Read, distributing copies to young people across the uK and as far afield as Spain, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Argentina. To celebrate the launch of Our Read on World Book day, 3rd March 2011, we took a group of our young readers from Merseyside for a flying visit to London, occupying a private first-class carriage of a Virgin Train, and (even better) being read to by Frank on the journey down.

I saw Frank Cottrell Boyce. He was a bit old but sound. I made great friends with Jake and Kevin. We had a proper laugh and a mess around. Jake got a little bit hurt and was in pain but he was ok. We climbed the statue outside the British Library. It was boss and huge. My ideas were like a fiery blaze. Poem by a young reader15

HIGHLIGHT

A Little, Aloud: An anthology of prose and poetry for reading aloud to someone you care forReading aloud is pleasure. Pure pleasure. Stephen Fry

Angela Macmillan has read hundreds of short stories for her reading groups with older people living in Care Homes, selecting a story to last no longer than 20 minutes but without ever making concessions to excellence of content. Each week, Angela and the residents gather to read together, think together, laugh and sometimes feel sad together. It is simple, its fun, its social and its intellectually stimulating. Angela has collected the most successful stories and poems from these sessions with something to delight everyone; from Shakespeare to Seamus Heaney, Black Beauty to Madame Bovary into an anthology, A Little, Aloud (Chatto & Windus, 2010) so that carers, friends and relations can have a wonderful resource for reading aloud, either to small groups or simply one-to-one.

R.R.P. 9.99 ISBN 9780701185633 www.alittlealoud.com

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TESTIMONIALS

Most of the young people who attend the Coops Foyer (Young Peoples Sheltered Accommodation) group had not read since they were small children and were wary about what literature could offer them. C is a 24-year-old male with a history of drug abuse whos had little contact with his troubled family for over two years. He became so engrossed in The Catcher in the Rye that he asked to take a copy of the book home with him when he was due to miss some sessions: I wouldnt have expected the book to be so old because the lad gets inside your head. I didnt know that someone felt like me and put it all down in words. I wish it could have carried on longer. I felt sort of safe when I was reading along with him, like he was my best mate and I wanted to make him better. Rachel Coleman, Get Into Reading Project Worker, Wigan

R. is a Get Into Reading member from an all-female reading group. She disclosed that reading always has been difficult for her and she struggles with dyslexia. One week, we read an extract from Edith Whartons The Age Of Innocence, which proved thoroughly engaging for the whole group, R. in particular. The following week she returned, excited to tell me she had joined her local library in order to borrow the book and find out what happened next! Victoria Clarke, Get Into Reading Project Worker, Wirral

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Read to Lead training is so professionally and energetically delivered the enthusiasm and hard work of the team helped a wide variety of people feel engaged, nurtured, and above all, skilled. Pam Stirling, Director of Strategic Management, Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust

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Essential element

Facilitator

The role of the group facilitator in expert choice of literature, in making the literature live in the room and become accessible to participants through skilful reading aloud, and in sensitively eliciting and guiding discussion of the literature. The facilitators social awareness and communicative skills were critical in creating individual confidence and group trust The facilitators alert presence in relation to literature, the individual and the dynamics of the group is a complex and crucial element of the intervention.(LivHIR final report, An investigation into the therapeutic benefits of reading in relation to depression and wellbeing)

Our staff are experts. Not just in choosing reading material but also in their ability to read people and make connections with the text, with themselves and with everyone else in the room. Our Read to Lead training enables us to pass on our skills and experience to people across a variety of professions psychiatry, teaching, occupational health, librarianship, fire fighters to further build the reading revolution. 19

FACILITATOR

Only ConnectCasi Dylan, Training ManagerIf there is any one thing that the shared reading facilitator does it is to make connections. The work is guided by the belief that there will be positive outcomes, but the main concern must be to the live experience of the reading, so that connections can be forged: within individuals, between readers, always through the literature. The best facilitators have an instinct or practiced ability to get at the human heart of all they read. Simons training session, which took place in a probation setting, is a great example of this. The group was reading Wordsworth: My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. The group of male readers has to get past the bloody rainbows aspect of the thing. What Simon does is to make the poem personal: You know, this poem never used to speak to me but, a couple of years back, when I got the call to tell me that my mum had died, I remember looking out of the window and seeing this massive rainbow. Its weird, isnt it, how seeing something like that can take you back to a different place? Pete, who had let the paper fall at the mention of rainbows, picks up the poem once more. Simon knows he has to go outside of the poem for a little while, to broaden the real life context in which it can be understood, before

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FACILITATOR

going back into it. Hes implicitly reminding the readers that the medium of the poem isnt the page, but real life. He shares his experiences with the group and holds back on opinions. He broadens the discussion away from any one viewpoint, which allows Pete to come in: The Child is Father of the Man, definitely, says Sam. My little boys teaching me so much. Yes. Simon thinks a while. I wonder what would happen if you didnt have that relationship or those memories to rely on? You could end up like some of the guys that we work with. Its Pete speaking now. He is quiet but insistent. What have they got to look back to? Theyre bound, alright, just in a different way. Pete makes a connection between the poem and his own work in probation, and, crucially, the realisation is his own.The really wonderful thing is that at the very same moment that he finds his thought, he expresses it through the language of the poem: Theyre bound, alright. A connection has been made. The best facilitators have an instinct or practiced ability to get at the human heart of what they read, and so to get at the other human hearts there in the room. However the very existence of my work as Training Manager is an expression of belief that the skills and understanding of a shared reading facilitator can be taught, and are not only the privilege of those who are instinctively literary. Anyone can read aloud with feeling, can choose materials well, can learn where to stop and how to frame discussion. But this cannot be learnt on a three-day course, or any course. It is a craft, the work of a lifetime, and all of the nurses, occupational therapists, librarians and fire fighters who finish Read to Lead are starting their apprenticeship. I have colleagues who have been running shared reading groups for over 20 years. As soon as they begin to read aloud, the literature is live in the room, there is a freshness of thinking and any knowledge of the poem for that moment unlearnt, allowing new connections to be made. It is what is happening now, here, now, always (T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets).

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It isnt an exaggeration to say that The Reader Organisations Read to Lead training was a life-changing experience for me: as well as learning the practical tools needed to deliver shared reading sessions, I found myself sharing a lot of personal stuff, and being shared with by others. Even though I didnt really know anyone, I felt like an equal member of the group. Id never experienced anything like it. Speaking from a professional point of view, Read to Lead fits into our new strategy Libraries Inspire which has shifted its focus away from information and education and towards reading. We are especially interested in reading for pleasure with children and families, adults with learning needs and reading for health and wellbeing. Read to Lead re-energised me. You can get so bogged down, ticking other peoples boxes, but this helped me to focus on what is important and helped to build what we hope will be lasting partnerships. Im currently working on a bid to get many more librarians in Monmouthshire trained. Ann Jones, Principal Librarian at Monmouthshire Libraries

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TESTIMONIALS

I ran a group at the Waltham Forest disability Resource Centre from the summer of 2010 until the end of March 2011. One group member used to be a teacher, had suffered a stroke and struggled with her reading, but read a short paragraph each week and enjoyed being able to be part of reading and talking about books. Some couldnt really read or join in conversation, but loved to be there each week, and others valued the efforts we made to copy stories and poems in large fonts that allowed them to follow along and take part. In January one of the group members and a volunteer at the Centre, attended our training course to enable her to take over the group herself. Paul Higgins, Get Into Reading Project Worker, London

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One hour isnt enough Id do this every day and every lesson if I could

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HIGHLIGHT

When I met L (15) her foster carer did not think she would take part in the project: Shes refused tutors before, she probably wont do it. But something kept her on track. When we read Eric by Shaun Tan (the story of a strange foreign exchange student), L loved the book, but could not explain at once why she liked it so much. A week later, with her enthusiasm for Eric just as high, I asked her why it was so important for her: That was like me when I came into care. I didnt know anything (like what an aeroplane was) and I was dead confused. Hes like an alien. Its not like anything Ive ever read its the best story Ive ever read. Anna Fleming, Young Persons Project Worker, Liverpool

N struggled with reading aloud but he always enjoyed sitting down with me to try read stories and poems aloud. He always volunteered to read even though he found a lot of the words difficult. He even started to attend the after-school group I ran each week. In our final session together at school, N told me that in his absence the week before, when he had to stay in hospital overnight for a minor operation, he had heard a girl crying in the bed next to his. He thought she sounded upset so he spoke to her and said he had a box of boss stories if she would she like to hear one. She said yes and N, in a position of great discomfort (having not been a hugely confident reader when I first met him), read out loud to her: an act of kindness made all the more remarkable given that this was the boy who thought reading was boring before joining the group. Patrick Fisher, Reader-in-Residence, Liverpool Extended Schools

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THE BLURB TESTIMONIAL

I have been attending the Book and Breakfast group in Toxteth, Liverpool, for over a year now. Initially I started attending the group as a way to socialise. I had been unemployed for a while before joining the group and had become quite depressed. I saw the reading group as a chance to meet new people, whilst doing something I enjoyed: reading. About six months ago, I decided I wanted to get more involved, and was offered a place on Read to Lead training, funded by the local Councillors Community Initiative Fund. I found the training challenging but really enjoyable and personally rewarding and because of that training I have started to volunteer in another Get Into Reading group. The thing I enjoy most about my Get Into Reading group is sharing views, beliefs, concerns and opinions with other people. I think the group has taught me patience; before coming I would not have had the patience to listen to the other people, but now I feel more tolerant towards others. C, Get Into Reading group member and trained facilitator

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THE BLURB

The Reader Organisation trained and placed 15 students taking the Reading in Practice module on the university of Liverpools English Literature degree in shared reading groups in the community: from residential care homes to mental health day centres.

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Group SupportEssential element

The role of the group in offering support and a sense of community. The latter was fostered particularly by the shared reading model of Get Into Reading which included everyone together in the reading experience. Likewise the discussion elicited in response to the texts, where personal ideas, feelings, opinions and experiences were mutually shared, was demonstrably critical in knitting the group together.(LivHIR final report, An investigation into the therapeutic benefits of reading in relation to depression and wellbeing)

Shared reading can significantly enrich and improve individual lives and the communities we live in. We find people who are not readers or who have lost their connection with literature, people who are isolated, lonely, or who could otherwise benefit from sharing a meaningful activity with others, and bring them together. Over time, people build up confidence that enables them to tell their own stories, as well as to forge close relationships with fellow readers. 29

GROuP SuPPORT

The Book, Me and EveryoneClare Williams, Get Into Reading Project WorkerIts not just about the reading or getting to know the story. Its about having our own opinions about things as well. Lesley, Get Into Reading group member, Bootle People ordinarily think of reading as a solitary and silent activity and, for those who havent been readers since school, its perhaps seen as forbidding or formal. So many new members find Get Into Reading groups exhilarating and strange; its a surprise to encounter all these animated voices talking loudly in local accents and without reserve about books and poetry. Its okay to laugh; its okay to interrupt the reading to share your thought or experience; its okay to sit quietly and listen without having to take part. A large part of that freedom, and that energy, is down to the friendly influence of the group. Many of our beneficiaries have experienced some level of social isolation and often find it difficult to find a place where they can go to meet other people in an environment that they feel is safe or conducive to their sense of wellbeing. For members who suffer from depression and anxiety, interacting with others can be extremely difficult but the relaxed atmosphere of our Get Into Reading groups allows people to gently ease their way back into a social world, reconnecting with people through shared reading. Here no one is going to put you on the spot and because of that we find that our members become more adventurous. For many members, the democratic and supportive nature of the group is key to the whole experience, as a participant observes: Were all involved at the same time, we read if we want to, we all get to discuss whats going on and you feel included and its social.

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GROuP SuPPORT

It doesnt matter what your reading ability is, youre all like cookies on a plate! Weve got different abilities, but we dont feel that. It takes you out of yourself, into a bigger group, and of course were all talking about the book, were all reading the book. So its like the book, me, and then everyone! Sharing reading allows members to form deep connections with the other people in the group, a contact that in everyday conversation would not be possible, or at least not as immediately available. The book is always there to anchor everyones attention, to make it safe to try a new or difficult thought or feeling. It makes you listen to other peoples opinions because everybody has got a different view, and its good to hear. Get Into Reading group member Get Into Reading opens minds and hearts to the importance and presence of other people and other worlds outside their own troubles which they can also move to help by coming to the reading group and contributing to the shared reading experience. Reading in a group helps people to concentrate better on the book, and on a world outside the self, breaking what may be destructive cycles of thought. When she was unwell, Carol felt she wasnt able to concentrate as a solitary reader. But the reading group offers a very different experience: When I have really bad moments, its the sitting there on your own and trying to read a book you cant do it. Whereas in the reading group there are other people round the table and theres a flow to it just because I cant read doesnt mean that the books been put down or put aside. Other people are still reading it and carrying on with it and I can still listen and know whats happening. Just in this simple way, the group lets the thoughts and feelings in the book be present in the room. But theres a deeper truth there too that our members would feel. Its as if the book is more real, and promises more in the company of the other readers.

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I dont know what it is but after this group I always leave feeling better. Its like a life tonic.

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HIGHLIGHT

I meet many people whose illnesses have sapped their self-esteem. But the Get Into Reading model can instil confidence in people, not only in their ability to read, but also to function in a group dynamic and to develop and express thoughts. There was a young adult in one of my groups who suffered from debilitating shyness. He was reclusive to the point of never making eye contact and for several sessions did not utter a word. Then one week, he said Hello. It was like a tortoise suddenly poking its head out of its shell. Over the weeks he gradually began to communicate a little more, with me as the facilitator and even more bravely, with other group members. The point at which I really rejoiced was when he started to read aloud. Beginning with a paragraph at a time, he soon managed full passages. I think this happened as a result of unrushed, regular interaction because the groups encourage people to unfurl over the weeks. Get Into Reading has a momentum of its own, which adapts to the pace of the individual reader or the collective group of readers. And sometimes slow and steady wins the race. Eleanor McCann, Reader-in-Residence, Mersey Care NHS Trust

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TESTIMONIALS

I am a lonely pensioner and this reading group is usually the only time in the week when I get out of the house and talk to people. It has expanded my social skills and my social life as I now go to the theatre and events with other Get Into Reading members.

I look forward to it every week. Cause I dont go out, except that I come here. This is making me come out, making me get up and get all showered and get out the door. Which is a good thing. Its given me something to, aim for instead of just being down all the time. So it has helped my mind a lot.

How good it is to talk about things we wouldnt usually talk about in the company of other men usually wed just be talking crap about sport.

I LOVE the reading group it has been my salvation.

For many years I have had a lot of pain in my body, but when I am in the group the reading and sharing of stories helps me to focus my mind away from the physical pain and forget about it for a couple of hours It kind of lifts you out of the pain. Get Into Reading group members

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TESTIMONIALS

Suddenly you are on your own with nothing to do. I was lonely and depressed but then a friend told me about my local Get Into Reading group. I have never looked back and have met some wonderful people. Reading a book aloud together over several weeks and months keeps your memory alert as you are invited to remember what has happened in previous weeks. Keeping my memory alert is very important to me. I am discovering new literature that I would never have been exposed to before. Without this group I would be frightened of going back to that lonely and depressed place... where you shut your front door and thats it. Get Into Reading group member, Wirral

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HIGHLIGHT

I am presenting you with the order of the dartmoor Flame announced M with a flourish, passing me a small laminated picture of a single flame. I dont give it to many people only those who have made some kind of a difference to me. She little knew that this gesture was as special for me as it seemed to be for her, because we have both been on a journey together in the last 18 months of the MINd Plymouth shared reading group. M has a social phobia which had isolated her for many years. Since taking the courageous step of joining the group, shes discovered she can perform in public once shes comfortable with those around her. She is now a confident reader and always offers insightful comments on the literature. I may now be the keeper of this special torch, but M has also re-ignited her own inner flame of confidence.

Caroline Adams, Get Into Reading Project Worker, South-West

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HIGHLIGHT

Andrea Jones, from Worsley Hall Estate in Wigan, joined our team through the Future Job Fund Scheme in October 2010. She had been unemployed for 14 years. Andrea went on our Read to Lead facilitator training and now runs a group for the elderly in Mahogany Care Home in Worsley Hall and groups on the Sephton Unit at Leigh Infirmary, which assesses older adults with dementia and similar illnesses. Talking about how her life has changed, Andrea said: The opportunity of working as a project worker has enriched my life on different levels. I have learned to utilise my time constructively and the longer I have been doing this work, the more I am able to retain information. It seems that a huge cloud has been lifted; my confidence and self-esteem have risen considerably. Before, I used to go to bed because I was bored, now I go to bed because Im tired! Val Hannan, Get Into Reading Project Manager, Wigan

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These Reader Pies are based on responses from 194 Get Into Reading group members from across the uK.Since Ive joined my Get Into Reading group

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EnvironmentInfluential element The environment contributes to atmosphere, group dynamic and expectation of the utility of the group. However, while the environment influenced the group, the collective action of the literature, facilitator, and group appeared to supersede that of the environment. The creation of a stimulating, non-pressurised, non-judgemental atmosphere (not like school) overrode considerations of physical environment.(LivHIR final report, An investigation into the therapeutic benefits of reading in relation to depression and wellbeing)

Get Into Reading works because it goes to where people are. Each week, our project workers and volunteers take books and poems to over 1000 people in 260 different locations, including residential care homes, hospital wards and mental health day centres, community centres, cafes and libraries, prisons, hostels and refugee centres, and schools and foster care homes. 39

MENTAL HEALTH

Get Into Reading groups work to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals in community settings, through to inpatient services and high secure hospitals. The groups do the following: Improve personal wellbeing through: human interaction and self-reflection encouragement of expression in talking about the text weekly sessions, providing structure and a meaningful activity Enable greater self-confidence by: focusing on the positive within each individual providing a safe, comfortable environment encouraging people to read aloud helping people to connect with, understand, a rich variety of reading material develop increased empathy and insight: through the reading of literature and connection with personal feelings benefits are particularly strong for people in high secure or forensic units Our weekly shared reading groups have been proven to be effective in a wide range of specialist services, including Psychiatric Intensive Care, Early Intervention in Psychosis, drug and Alcohol, Older Peoples mental health, Eating disorders, Brain Injury and Neurological wards, and Learning disabilities, such as Aspergers. The most exciting thing about our Reader-in-Residency at Mersey Care NHS Trust is the enthusiastic way staff pick up the Get Into Reading model and make it their own, bringing their therapeutic skills to the work with texts. For example, Anne Lofthouse, recently appointed Head Occupational Therapist at Ashworth High Secure Hospital, has been encouraging her team to use reading and other creative approaches to engage with patients in seclusion. In addition to the one-to-one work, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, library staff and a psychologist are running reading groups at Ashworth.

Mary Weston, Mental Health Project Manager 40

TESTIMONIALS

I used to enjoy reading thrillers but I havent read for a long time. I am not able to sit still for long enough to read on my own. Ive tried listening to Talking Books but thats the same. To have someone else to read the book for me helps me stick with it. The discussions break up the story and make you think about what youve read. This was difficult at the start but its easier now.

You have no idea how much I adore this group. It makes me feel useful and clever and reminds me how much I loved to learn when I was well and at college. Its so nice to have a group to go to that isnt about eating disorders, it gives me a chance to feel connected to the real me again and not my anorexic side. M and F, Get Into Reading group members, Haldon Clinic for Eating Disorders, Exeter

The book had made other people who had attended open up about themselves infront of complete strangers. I had felt comfortable sharing with the group my past feelings not wanted to go out or wanting to do anything. Situations that were occurring in the book had made me think that the wider community can be small minded at times. Mary, Get Into Reading group member, Toxteth, Liverpool

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ELdERLY C ARE ANd dEMENTIA

Weve been delivering shared reading groups in care homes since 2006, and our work links directly to the National dementia Strategy objective to improve the quality of care by providing meaningful engagement. In a recent evaluation we found that during groups:

86% of members are less agitated 86% have improved mood 87% have improved concentration 73% have better social interaction

Some of these outcomes continue long after the group is over, such as less agitation and improved mood. In October 2010 we set up a new group at Trewan House Care Home in Widnes. Not only has the group had a fantastic response from residents, but from staff members too, who have been surprised by the impact the group has had and as a result are building a reading culture within the home, reading on a one-to-one basis with residents and helping them find favourite poems and stories. S, an activities coordinator, told me: We never would have read with residents before and have been surprised at how much they have thoroughly enjoyed it and looked forward to it each week. They find it both relaxing and stimulating. The less able residents can come and listen and join in with others and the social aspect is really important. One week, Teresa and Joan had a wonderful discussion together about their memories of going to the library as children with their parents. They spoke to one another and looked at each other with big smiles on their faces. We get to learn things about residents and we love it as much as they do.

Katie Clark, Dementia and Elderly Care Manager 42

ELdERLY C ARE ANd dEMENTIA

I like this I like it because sometimes I feel lost and this helps me to go through and see it there and think.Get Into Reading group member, Redholme Care Home

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CRIMINAL JuSTICE SERVICE

Get Into Reading groups in prisons, in probation and in community initiatives for ex-offenders provide valuable structure and continuity as part of the process of rehabilitation, contributing to the reduction of re-offending. The key factors are:

Purposeful activity Social inclusion Opportunities for positive interaction with othersThe benefits to individuals are:

Improved self esteem development of empathy Improved mental health Enhanced emotional literacy and communication skills development of a capacity for learning development of skills of social interaction

All the stories weve read seem to be about me, said Jim, an ex-army Probation Officer. Anxious about reading out loud and about literature, Jim had been wary at the start of the Greater Manchester Probation Trusts Read to Lead training. At the end, Jim and the others spoke of their appreciation of the power of good writing and shared reading. This has widened my horizons said one. It has given me a new perspective on life. In the opinion of the trainees, the impact of shared reading has been considerable in the hostels. Its made a real difference to the men, said one and describes how a resident who has been attending the reading group has become much more reflective. In his own words: Im really liking these poems. I feel really mellow. Its a nice feeling. I dont know whats happening to me. This is therapeutic. I think it could make me a better person. I need to do more of it.

Amanda Brown, Criminal Justice Project Manager 44

YOuNG PEOPLE

If we are serious about narrowing the gap between disadvantaged children and those more fortunate, then this is the type of project which should be developed more widely. (Mr Freeman, Headteacher, Sacred Heart Primary School, Wirral) Each week we read with hundreds of young people, including:

Pupils in schools from age 418 Excluded teenagers in alternative education settings Looked-after children in residential care homes, foster placement homes, and care leavers Young people in disability arts centres Young people in libraries and community centres

The focus of our weekly groups and our one-to-one sessions is entirely on reading for pleasure. This brings enjoyment but it also offers vital stability for young people in the care system. Benefits include:

Increased personal confidence Improved health and wellbeing Love of reading Greater social skills Improved literacy Stability and security

When I visited G the week after the Our Read trip, his foster carer told me in excited whispers: G has read The Unforgotten Coat. Im amazed. Hes never read a book before. He has books but he never opens them. But this one he took to show everyone at his education placement, and finished it by himself. Hes asked for Millions next! Anna Fleming, Liverpool LAC Reading for Pleasure Project

Sam Shipman, Young Persons Project Manager 45

TESTIMONIALS

You meet nice people here, you see. It gets you talking without alcohol you dont have to go to the ale house to get a bit of socialising done, you can come here. And when you are here, you can talk about things that you cant talk about down the pub. Im actually giving up drinking for a while. Ive started reading stuff I wouldnt normally read, and reading it out loud. When you hear your own voice its strange at first, but you get used to it and the idea that this is you. It is like the old folk songs everybody can sing they just do it in different ways. To tell you the truth, at the moment, where I live, I feel isolated; I cant find... I find it very difficult to find a soul mate, someone I can talk with. So I come here with you lot to get that input. D, Get Into Reading group member, Green Library, Wigan

This group has made me aware that judging poems from their titles gives pre-conceived ideas about the content but approaching poetry with an open and non-judgmental stance gives you the opportunity to understand and accept things in your life. Get Into Reading group member, Haldon Clinic for Eating Disorders, Exeter

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NATIONAL MOdEL PROJECT, WIRRAL

At the beginning of 2010, we received joint commissioning from Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council and Wirral NHS to develop a National Model Project for Get Into Reading. The project would demonstrate how Get Into Reading reaches all corners of a community and provide a model for replication in other parts of the country. In Wirral were now working with librarians, volunteers, health professionals and many others, to deliver over 100 sessions each week, reaching over 600 people ranging in age from 393. Its been great this a real boost to my recovery. Resident at a rehab unit, Birkenhead The most exciting thing about the National Model Project is the sense that were starting to join up the dots as we work with Wirral Libraries, Wirral NHS, social services, schools and other charities. Whether its walking into a meeting where somebody says, Yes, Ive heard about this its great, or realising that a young mum in difficult circumstances is getting support from an adult group after seeing her daughter introduced to Get Into Reading through a schools group, were gaining ground. Since being involved with Get Into Reading, I have not been a hospital inpatient once. I know of countless other people who say their actual health has improved thanks to this. Get Into Reading group member with Aspergers Syndrome, Birkenhead Its also amazing to see how Get Into Reading beneficiaries, who in the beginning needed help themselves, are now becoming volunteers and running sessions for people in care homes and getting a real kick out of it. Volunteering has been a very important addition to what we can offer people, enabling Get Into Reading to match the Five Ways To Wellbeing and become a significant tool in improving Public Health.

Kate McDonnell, Get Into Reading Project Manager, Wirral 47

You dont get such warmth in the audience, and from the stage, anywhere else its the best night of the year.

2010s Penny Readings once again packed out Liverpools St. Georges Hall. Over 500 people listened to readings from star guests and saw performances from a variety of singers, musicians, dancers, and even a pantomime cow

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TRuSTEES ANd STAFFTHE BLURB

TRUSTEES Rosemary Hawley MBE, Chair Jo Burns (as of 10/06/2010) Philip davis Jill Rudd Brian denton (as of 10/06/2010) Lindsey dyer

Steve Hawkins dr Shyamal Mukherjee MBE Roger Phillips Secretary: Chris Catterall Chief Executive: Jane davis

STAFF Much of our organisational development focus this year has centred around processes and systems resulting in a more thorough induction for both staff and trustees, improved staff development and the introduction of quarterly Think days bringing staff from all over the country together to think, share and plan. During 2010-2011 our staff were: Caroline Adams, Project Worker, South West Amanda Boston, Project Worker, Wirral Amanda Brown, Criminal Justice Project Manager Patricia Canning, Project Worker, Belfast Chris Catterall, National development Manager Katie Clark, Elderly Care and dementia Manager Victoria Clarke, Project Worker, Wirral Caitlin Clough, Young Persons Project Worker, Liverpool Rachel Coleman, Project Worker, Wigan Sarah Coley, deputy Editor, The Reader Jane davis, director Jonathan davis, Project Worker, Liverpool Charles darby-Villis, Project Worker, durham Casi dylan, Training Manager Patrick Fisher, Reader-in-Residence, Liverpool Extended Schools Anna Fleming, Young Persons Project Worker

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TRuSTEES ANd STAFF

Niall Gibney, Marketing Assistant Zoe Gilling, Business Manager Val Hannan, Get Into Reading Project Manager, Wigan Kim Haygarth, Project Worker, Manchester Emma Hayward, Project Worker, Liverpool Paul Higgins, Project Worker, London Sean Hill, Finance Assistant Kate Holcombe, Project Worker, Wigan Sarah Hopkins, Get Into Reading Project Manager, South West Lee Keating, Office Administrator Marianne Kelly, Project Worker, Wirral Beverley Laroc, Project Worker, Liverpool Emily Lezerri, Project Worker, South West Penny Markell, Get Into Reading Project Manager, London Anthony McCall, Accountant Eleanor McCann, Reader-in-Residence, Mersey Care NHS Trust Anna McCracken, Community Engagement Coordinator Kate Mcdonnell, Get Into Reading Project Manager Elizabeth McGaw, Project Worker, South West Emma McGordon, Project Worker, Liverpool AlexisMcNay, Project Worker, Wirral Anna Parry, Project Worker, Wigan Sophie Povey, Young Persons Project Worker, Wirral Rachel Salmon, Project Worker, Wirral Samantha Shipman, Young Persons Project Manager Claire Speer, Communications Assistant Eleanor Spencer, Project Worker, durham Eleanor Stanton, Get Into Reading Project Manager, Liverpool Sally Sweeney, Project Worker, South West damian Taylor, Project Worker, Wigan Mark Till, Training Administrator Jennifer Tomkins, Communications Manager Mary Weston, Mental Health Project Manager Clare Williams, Project Worker, Liverpool

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FuNdERS ANd COMMISSIONERS

Our work was commissioned by the following organisations during 2010/11 Wigan MBC Mersey Care NHS Trust Liverpool City Council Liverpool PCT Halton MBC Knowsley PCT Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Wirral PCT Weatherhead High School Egremont Primary School Greasby Infant School National Serious Personality disorder Team Government Office North West Home Office Community Fund Cobalt Housing Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service Arts Council of England Waltham Forest disability Centre NHS Birmingham East & North Sheffield Health and Social Care Foundation Trust Neurosupport East London NHS Westminster Libraries Alt Valley Neighbourhood team A Good Read Cara Lunch Club 5 Boroughs NHS Trust London Borough of Hillingdon Liverpool Mutual Homes upton High School Warrington Borough Council Central & Northwest London NHS Foundation Trust Sefton Council for Volunteer Services Somerset NHS Highland Council devon Library Services

The following Charitable Trusts and funders were kind enough to support our work during the financial year 2010/11 Volant Charitable Trust The Rayne Foundation Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Ellerman The Tudor Trust The university of Liverpool Paul Hamlyn Trusthouse Charitable Trust The Westminster Foundation Morgan Foundation department of Health Carers Innovation Fund Awards For All Jewish Care Walker Books Publiship Coutts Charitable Trust The Little Charity

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BuSINESS AIMSTHE BLURB

Our Vision TRO envisages a world in which everyone has access to literature, and in which personal responses to books are freely shared in reading communities in every area of life. Our Mission Our mission is to build a reading revolution. This means we work to promote reading literature as a vital life skill, to give everyone the confidence and ability to find pleasure in reading, to bring attention to the power of reading in contributing to personal and social wellbeing, and to build reading communities in which shared meanings can be constructed across social and cultural boundaries. Our Plan during 2010/11, we have been working on a strategic plan for 201114, which aims to develop The Reader Organisations position as the uKs leading advocate for, and provider of, shared reading, the market for which we will continue to create. While we will continue to do what we have done so very successfully build community projects based on shared reading there are two important new developments in this plan: a move to West Everton in August 2011, signalling our desire to become established as a deeply integrated community enterprise; and the development of a culture of shared reading nationally, which will reach new, less-deprived and wealthier audiences to reach all layers of society and to find ways of bringing individuals from all walks of life together in mutually supportive relationships. Our aims for 201114 are: Grow Get Into Reading Work with one or more councils as partners to transform a library service, modelling libraries as centres of community and personal learning Create a national culture of shared reading Build a creative, well-functioning and flexible organisation

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THE BLURB FINANCES

Statement of financial activitieS for the year ended 31St march 2011

Incoming resources Incoming resources from generated funds: Voluntary income Investment income Incoming resources from charitable activities Total incoming resources

Unrestricted Restricted

2011 Total

2010 Total

98,908 226 180,461 ______ 279, 595 ______

16,000

114,908 226

42,674 232 631,679 ______ 674,585 ______

762,867 943,328 ______ ______ 778,867 1,058,462 ______ ______

Resources expended Charitable expenditure: Charitable activities Governance costs Total resources expended Net incoming resources before transfers Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Accumulated funds brought forward Accumulated funds carried forward 175,336 4,620 ______ 179,956 ______ 99,639 ______ 99,639 138,806 ______ 238,445 ______ ______ 853,529 1,028,865 ______ 4,620 ______ 853,529 1,033,485 ______ ______ (74,662) ______ (74,662) 127,762 ______ 53,100 ______ ______ 24,977 ______ 24,977 266,568 ______ 291,545 ______ ______ 592,985 3,750 ______ 596,735 ______ 77,850 ______ 77,850 188,718 ______ 266,568 ______ ______

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THE BLURB FINANCES

Balance Sheet

at

31St march 20112011 8,016 2010 9,127

Fixed asset Tangible assets Current assets debtors Cash at bank Creditors Amounts falling due within one year Net current assets Net assets Funds Unrestricted funds General funds Restricted funds Get Into Reading Merseyside Get Into Reading Training Get Into Reading London Criminal Justice Programme Total funds

119,089 547,171 ______ 666,260 382,731 ______ 283,529 ______ 291,545 ______

50,092 361,340 ______ 411,432 153,991 ______ 257,441 ______ 266,568 ______

238,445 53,100 ______ 291,545 _______ _______

138,806 94,008 16,206 17,548 ______ 266,568 _______ _______

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THE BLURB FINANCES

independent auditorS Statement to the truSteeS of the reader organiSationWe have examined the summarised accounts for the year ended 31st March 2011 set out on pages 54 and 55.Respective responsibilities of the trustees and the auditor The trustees are responsible for preparing the summarised accounts in accordance with applicable united Kingdom law and the recommendations of the charities SORP. Our responsibility is to report to you our opinion on the consistency of the summarised accounts with the full annual accounts and Trustees Annual Report. We also read other information contained in the summarised annual report and consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the summarised accounts. We conducted our work in accordance with Bulletin 2008/3 issued by the Auditing Practices Board. Opinion In our opinion the summarised accounts are consistent with the full annual accounts and the Trustees Annual Report of The Reader Organisation for the year ended 31st March 2010. Mitchell Charlesworth Statutory auditor October 2011 5 Temple Square Temple Street Liverpool L2 5RH

The accounts were approved by the trustees on 29th September, 2011 and signed on their behalf by

Rosemary Hawley Chair

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Communications Intern Leila Green takes a trip home after a long day with Sonja Sohn at the Fire Station

The Reader Organisation is suppor ted by:

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The Reader Organisation The Friary Centre Bute Street Liverpool L5 3LA telepohone: 0151 207 7207 email: info@thereader.org.uk website: www.thereader.org.uk blog: www.thereaderonline.co.uk Registered charity number 1126806