Latest News & Blogs
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Charity Spotlight – Fighting With Pride
In this blog our Ambassador in Scotland, Fiona Maxwell, highlights the fantastic work of the charity Fighting With Pride… Fighting With Pride Prior to January 2000, there was a ban on LGBT+ personnel serving [...]
It’s not too late to make a New Year’s Resolution…
Join a Reading Force book club and read more amazing books, for free! Check out our THREE AMAZING new titles for our adult book clubs! New volunteer coordinators can choose from: Capital by John Lanchester, [...]
Fazoom! The creation of a superhero…
We’re thrilled to welcome Mairi Holden as our guest blogger. Mairi is Oscar Holden’s mum - you’ll remember that 11-year-old Oscar recently published his first fantastic book about his character Fazoom. Here, Mairi recalls [...]
Christmas in the military
In this blog Reading force founder Alison Baverstock reflects on Christmas in the military and eclectic Christmas tree decorations! I don’t come from a military family. As a child, listening to ‘Two-way family [...]
Autumn news from our Book Club Ambassador Nicola…
Hi everyone, What a fantastic summer! We teamed up with Connected Forces to create an online book club for 16–19-year-old UK Armed Forces students across the UK and provided three free books to each [...]
The Story of Britain’s Black Airmen
We’re thrilled to welcome K.N. Chimbiri as our guest blogger for Black History Month. In this blog Kandace talks about her writing life and where the idea came from for her newly released book, [...]
Reading Force Ambassador in Scotland
In this blog our Ambassador in Scotland, Fiona Maxwell (aka The Book Lady!), shares the highlights of her Reading Force life… Hi everyone, I’m Fiona Maxwell and I have had a wonderful time working [...]
Senior Book Clubs
Calling all secondary school Service Children’s Champions and Coordinators, Welfare Officers, and Community Development Officers... Have you seen our amazing new titles for senior book clubs? Our senior book clubs are perfect for teens [...]
What’s new for Summer ‘22?
Hi everyone, I’m Nicola Hill and I am delighted to have been warmly welcomed into the Reading Force team as Book Club Ambassador. Another story please Mrs Hill … As an Early Years [...]
A heart-warming book about IVF for children and adults
We are very pleased to introduce our guest blogger, Stacey Morgan. Here Stacey generously shares her IVF journey and how she came to write her beautiful book, I knew I’d find you. My [...]
Three reasons why you should enter the Reading Force Writing Competition
Alison Baverstock is a military wife and mum, the founder of Reading Force, and the author of 18 books. In this blog Alison shares her thoughts on why you should enter the Reading Force [...]
Day Sixteen – Crask Inn to John o’Groats (82 Miles) and mission completed!
1st September 2021 Day Sixteen – Crask Inn to John o’Groats (82 Miles) and mission completed! The final instalment of Alison’s stories of being the back-up and support for the intrepid cyclists, [...]
Days 14 and 15 across the Scottish Highlands from Glencoe to The Crask Inn
31st August 2021 Follow Alison’s stories of what it’s like to be the back-up and support here, as she reports back with a daily MAMILgram (that’s Middle-Aged-Men-In-Lycra): Day Fifteen – the penultimate day, from [...]
Days 12 and 13 from Loch Lomond into The Highlands, and some equipment tips
27th August 2021 Days 12 and 13 from Loch Lomond into The Highlands, and some equipment tips Follow Alison’s stories of what it’s like to be the back-up and support here, as she [...]
Days 10 and 11 from the Lake District to Loch Lomond, and some roadie tips
Days 10 and 11 from the Lake District to Loch Lomond, and some roadie tips – Follow Alison’s stories of what it’s like to be the back-up and support here, as she reports back [...]
Days 7, 8 and 9 from mid Wales to the Lake District, through driving rain to beautiful sunsets
23rd August 2021 Days 7, 8 and 9 from mid Wales to the Lake District, through driving rain to beautiful sunsets - Follow Alison’s stories of what it’s like to be the [...]
Days 4 and 5 from the South West to mid Wales – and then a well-earned rest day
20th August 2021 Days 4 and 5 from the South West to mid Wales – and then a well-earned rest day - Follow Alison’s stories of what it’s like to be the [...]
And so the epic bike ride begins…
18th August 2021 Days One, Two and Three as the cycling challenge gets underway - Follow Alison’s stories of what it’s like to be the back-up and support here, as she reports [...]
Fulfilling your life’s ambitions
9th August 2021 On 13th August Neil Baverstock kicks off his cycle ride from Land’s End to John o’Groats to raise money for Reading Force. Alison, his wife and founder of Reading [...]
Reflections on 10 years of Reading Force
19th July 2021 Life generally just rolls on. One often looks back week to week (‘This time, last week…’). Holidays and official festivals puncture time, seeming to last for ages and afterwards collapsing in on themselves. How [...]
Special guest author blog on The Cat Mafia!
9th July 2021 We’re thrilled to welcome author and naval mum, Liz McKittrick, as our guest blogger. Liz wrote Valiant Tails: The Cat Mafia, which is the very first book to kick off [...]
Extending our support to veterans in Northern Ireland
Reading Force is based on personal experience. As a family we found that shared-reading kept us in touch, both as a family and with our wider friends and connections, throughout our time in the [...]
World Book Day 2021!!!
Here at Reading Force we LOVE World Book Day and are very excited that despite these challenging days of lockdown and home schooling the day is still going ahead on Thursday 4th March! The [...]
We need to talk about the book…
We are delighted to announce the launch of a new Reading Force initiative – online book clubs for groups of Forces children and groups of adults and, we’re looking for volunteers to run [...]