A Marathon effort

Here at The Reader Organisation, we couldn't continue to do the work we do reaching thousands of people with shared reading across the UK on a weekly basis without generous support from friends and fundraisers from all corners. One such supporter took on the great feat of running the 26.2 mile stretch of the world famous London Marathon last month, and all of us would like to say a huge thank you to Angela Boland who has raised over £1,000 to support our work. We hope that you've had lots of chances to put your feet up since, Angela!

Our Head of Development Sophie Povey caught up with Angela at the newly opened Reader Cafe at Calderstones Mansion House to talk about her big achievement:

Angela works at the University of Liverpool and recently attended a shared reading session in a Wirral care home where she was conducting a research project considering the value of shared reading for adults living with Dementia. It was this experience that made Angela want to support TRO - she felt that the project had a real, positive impact on the adults in the group, but also on staff and relatives; “one particular relative told me that was brilliant being able to hear her mother taking part in the session, that it was like having her back”.

Being a passionate reader herself, Angela felt that felt TRO was the ideal choice when looking for a good cause for sponsorship. She said that running the London Marathon was a fantastic experience - the crowds were incredible and the sun was shining – and the magnificent sponsorship she raised will enable us to train a new Reader Leader to run shared reading groups in the North West.

A big thanks once again to Angela, and we're delighted that her efforts will lead to even more people getting the chance to connect with great literature and each other.

If you want to support The Reader Organisation then you don't have to go to quite the same lengths - any donation, however big or small, is much appreciated and will enable us to reach some of the most vulnerable people in society with our shared reading projects around the country. You can donate online at our Virgin Money Online page, or find out how else you can support us by clicking through to our website: https://www.thereader.org.uk/make-a-donation