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Library e-bulletin November 2024 |
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Read Manchester Autumn Newsletter 2024
Welcome to Read Manchester’s autumn newsletter. As the colder weather approaches, we are reflecting on this year’s activities and planning for next year. Time to snuggle down with a warm drink for your Read Manchester update...
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Take 10 to Read
Conceived as an idea by our very own team in Manchester, #Take10toRead is now a national campaign, encouraging everyone to take just 10 minutes out of the day to read for pleasure, promoting positive mental wellbeing. The initiative takes place annually on 10 October, marking World Mental Health Day. This year saw Read Manchester give away an incredible 3,000 books to staff, patients and visitors to The Christie and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospitals. The team was helped by Literacy Champions, who chatted to recipients of the free books about the importance of literacy and establishing a regular reading habit to boost wellbeing.
Read more about the events and our other Take 10 activities here.
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Primary to high school Transition Read
In partnership with Manchester City Council Education, Year 6 children in Manchester’s primary schools were gifted a copy each of the book Quiet Storm by local author (and Literacy Champion!) Kimberly Whittam. The book was chosen from a shortlist by Reading Ambassadors from Chorlton High School and covers themes of building confidence, self-esteem and learning to speak out – all perfect topics for the transition to high school. Visit our blog to find out more about the workshop sessions that Kimberly delivered in libraries for young people this summer.
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Blue Peter Book Club Live
This summer, Read Manchester was thrilled to celebrate a love of reading with the Blue Peter Book Club programme of events in communities, libraries and parks across the city. Find out more details of the exciting programme here, narrated by none other than Blue Peter presenter, Abby! Blue Peter Book Club sets were given to 15 competition winners and 44 Manchester primary schools. Artist Emma Martin also worked with 30 local schools (and 10,000 children) to create an art installation of book birds, which featured on Blue Peter. The birds represented the sense of freedom reading brings you. The programme was made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England and was a partnership between Manchester Libraries/Read Manchester, The Reading Agency and CBBC.
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Early Years
Read Manchester continues to support the development of language, communication and literacy in the Early Years in various ways. 8,000 children starting reception were each given a copy of the wonderful People Need People by Benjamin Zephaniah for 2024’s Early Years Transition Read. Additionally, as part of Making Manchester Fairer’s Flying Start initiative, we are supporting 44 primary schools and 34 private nursery settings with additional books and resources. Read Manchester also attended the launch of Gorton Sacred Heart’s Family Hub in September, gifting books to families and spreading awareness about the Start for Life campaign. You can download their latest resource Little Moments Together cards here. These support parents and carers of children 0-2 with simple ideas to encourage chat and playing together during daily activities.
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See Myself in Books: neurodiverse collection
September saw the launch of Read Manchester’s newest See Myself in Books collection for primary schools, the neurodiverse collection. The selection of 25 carefully chosen books help children understand, empathise and feel included through the power of stories covering varying neurodiverse perspectives. The collections have been distributed to 30 primary schools so far.
You can read more information here.
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Literacy Champion update
Read Manchester now has 109 active volunteer Literacy Champions across the city. Since July this year, they have contributed over 1,000 hours of their time, inspiring a love of reading and all things literacy in their communities.
Literacy Champions supported the Summer Reading Challenge in Libraries
The Summer Reading Challenge, (this year’s theme was Marvellous Makers) is designed by the Reading Agency and delivered locally by Libraries during the school holidays. This year, Literacy Champions were invited to support Manchester Libraries by chatting to children and families about their reading and how they felt about getting involved.
A parent/carer at Burnage Library said: "Reading is like a food for every human being’s brain. So, it is a good initiative for our kids' brains"
Another parent/carer at Longsight Library said: "What a fantastic initiative to get children to read books. Reading books is very important and allows children's imaginative development".
Thank you so much to the 9 Literacy Champions who attended 21 different events at 11 libraries and gave us 32 hours of their time as volunteers. This is just one of the ways that volunteers can add value to the brilliant work that's already happening in the city. If you'd like to find out more about volunteering, please check out our website Volunteer | National Literacy Trust | National Literacy Trust
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Salford Hub launch
We are delighted that Salford joined the Literacy Hub family in October. This is a partnership between the National Literacy Trust and Salford City Council. Author Emily Coxhead led the launch event hosting Happy Fact workshops for local primary children, alongside illustrator Curtis Jobling and a local children’s choir. You can read more about the event and the aims of the hub here.
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Watch this space...
Upcoming in spring 2025 will be an exciting programme of events for Read Manchester’s very first See Myself in Books festival. Riding on the success of our ethnic diversity and neurodiverse campaigns, we are busy working away to bring two weeks of activity for schools, libraries and communities, including an inspiring live author event.
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Share this newsletter
If you know someone who would like to get the latest news from Manchester Libraries each month, feel free to forward this newsletter or let them know they can sign up on our website.
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Spotlight on Services
Whether you're a life-long library member or newly signed up, make sure you're using all the free library services available to you. Did you know there's an...
Online catalogue and an app so you can search for and reserve or renew books from anywhere.
Our Online reference library gives you access to free language courses, digital newspapers and magazines, music streaming and business resources.
Free ebooks and audiobooks mean you can download the latest bestsellers to read or listen on any device, there are no overdue charges, they return themselves and they're free to download.
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Support us
Thanks to donations ands grants many of our events and exhibitions in Manchester Libraries are free. You can make a donation in any library or visit Manchester Central Library Development Trust to make a donation or join the Library Lovers scheme.
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