News

A child being able to hear the voice of their parent who is posted away from home is very precious and helps them feel closer. Story book Waves makes this happen by recording Royal Navy and Royal Marines parents reading a picture book story for their child. Then a team of specially trained volunteers adds a soundtrack to make a personalised CD that the child can listen to over and over and whenever they want. Families who have made Storybook Waves CDs joke that they get listened to so much they are the only CDs to get worn out! At Reading [...]

It’s never too early to share books with your little ones, and that’s why we’ve created Reading Force little ones. We’ve created a new colourful scrapbook for pre-school aged children – it’s similar to our signature scrapbook, but with more blank pages for infants to draw in, stick photographs, and collage. One of the things we’re most excited about is the fantastic choice of picture books we have in stock to send your little ones! Inside your scrapbook you'll find a postcard voucher – fill it in, post it off to us (Freepost) and we’ll send you a FREE picture book and [...]

On Friday 10th October 2014 pupils in over 600 schools in the UK will be showing their support for soldiers, sailors, airmen and their families, by dressing up in Red, White & Blue and donating £1 each. Red, White & Blue Day is held every year and 2014 is set to be the biggest yet. If your school isn’t registered yet it’s not too late to get involved! Simply go to www.redwhiteblueday.co.uk to register. Your school can celebrate Red, White & Blue Day this Friday or on any other day before 30th November. Each pupil donating £1 is raising funds for [...]

Saturday 7th June was my first Reading Force event. I confess that I was curious and concerned as to how it would all go. But all trepidation was instantly swept away by the wave of enthusiastic librarians.  When I arrived, I found Emma and her energetic team busy at Plympton library in the midst of excited preparations. They were displaying bright bunting over a large party table topped with a deliciously decorated Reading Force iced cake, tempting strawberries and assorted fruits for children to savour. Colourful carpets were being rolled out for the families to banquet on. As soon as Reading [...]

Thank you to all those who submitted their finished scrapbooks to the April competition. We have read and looked at every single scrapbook – they came from all over the country and from Service families overseas. We (the Reading Force team, Alison, Elaine and Hattie), looked over them with our fantastic designer, Jo, and brilliant printer, Paul, both of whom were as captivated as us. We have been very impressed with all the work that has gone into each scrapbook. Some had amazing illustrations, others had great sections of writing and research into the book. Some were full of humour, others [...]

If your scrapbook is lying around at home and you like the idea of using it and want to enter the Scrapbook Competition, but you’re not sure what to put in it, read on... Hundreds of children and families are taking part in Reading Force at the moment, and we’ve already had some fantastic scrapbooks submitted to our Scrapbook Competition. The current competition closing date is 25th April 2014. First things first, remember your scrapbook is for you and your family and friends – there is no right or wrong way to complete it – only your way! If you like [...]

Thank you to all the families who entered the 2013 Scrapbook Competition. It has been a pleasure to look at the scrapbooks and fantastic to see all the different ways families have taken part – some at home together, some separated by deployments, some with extended family, some with one parent and child – and all completed with effort and creativity. Every scrapbook will soon be returned to families, along with a certificate and free book. Congratulations to everyone for taking part. We are pleased to say that many of you have won a prize! Details of your prize will be [...]

Free books for HMS Heroes! That’s right – we’re giving every Hero in Plymouth and North Yorkshire a free book. Since we found out about the fantastic HMS Heroes groups springing up all over the country, what great friends they are, and how supportive they are of one another, we have wanted to give them something special as part of Reading Force. We have been lucky enough to receive a grant from the Siobhan Dowd Trust to buy and give books to HMS Heroes in Plymouth and North Yorkshire who are doing Reading Force. (Heroes or group leaders can email us [...]

Harestock Primary School in Winchester won the Reading Force 2012 Competition prize for the most participating school by entering an eye-catching group of completed scrapbooks. Although children do Reading Force at home with their family and friends, school support and encouragement is a real boost to activity, and it was clear that Harestock staff got behind the initiative. The school’s prize was a visit from fantastic girl-pirate author Sara Starbuck, who supported Reading Force throughout 2012. Sara pulled together a pirate crew from the Harestock audience, then quizzed them on their pirate knowledge to see if they were truly fit for [...]

One of our top prizes in this year’s Reading Force Scrapbook Competition was to watch a celebrity photoshoot with Hello! magazine. The Edmonds family from Carterton won this prize with their fantastic scrapbook about Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. The Edmonds started reading the book together in July, then dad Michael was posted to Afghanistan in August. Chloe and Nicole read the rest of the book to their dad over Skype. Michael recently returned home so the whole family were able to attend the photoshoot with I’m a Celebrity runner-up Ashley Roberts. A good time was had by [...]