Fiona Maxwell has been Reading Force Ambassador in Scotland since July 2017. Her role has since expanded to include the North of England. In Scotland she has become known as the Book Lady among the military community. Here she shares what being an RF Ambassador involves and a favourite book!
Can you tell us a little bit about your Ambassador role?
The main focus of my Ambassador role is to raise awareness of Reading Force and the positive impact of shared reading as widely as possible. To reach families, we rely on a variety of organisations supporting families with an Armed Forces connection and so I work collaboratively with nurseries, schools, Armed Forces welfare teams, Local Authority representatives and veteran charities. I work from home (in my ‘office’ surrounded by books!) but I do get out and about a fair bit too – living in central Scotland means I am well placed to visit all the major bases in Scotland and in the North of England. In fact, it takes me as long to travel to RAF Lossiemouth on the Scottish Moray coast as it does to get to Catterick Garrison!
Can you give us an example of what a typical day is like for you?
In some respects, there are no typical days but I do spend a good bit of time sending emails, whether keeping in touch with existing contacts, responding to queries and requests from them, or trying to make new ones. Establishing new links involves doing some background research on the organisation and then outlining what we do and how it fits in with their support for the military community.
If I have an event coming up, for example a Families Day on one of the bases, I spend time preparing for that – deciding which and how many books to take for each age group (this depends on the size of the event), making sure I have a good selection for all ages, putting bookplate stickers on them, packing them in boxes, ensuring I have sufficient scrapbooks, reading journals, bookmarks, tote bags and all the other paraphernalia needed for the day! On the day, it is then a case of loading everything into the car, unloading it at the other end, setting up my stall and, at the end of the day, doing everything in reverse, albeit with fewer books and scrapbooks! Going to events is a wonderful opportunity to spend time chatting to families about Reading Force, sometimes helping children to choose books, hearing all about what sort of books they like to read, and persuading reluctant readers that the right book is out there for them…and it may just be in one of my book boxes!
I also spend time sending out books to families who have requested them through our website. I love the process of looking at the age(s)of the child(ren), choosing appropriate book(s) and, if it’s a family with two or more siblings, working out a good combination of books.
Fiona and Jane Harsham, Sustainabiity Manager at Annington, Edinburgh Hive
You work with veterans too, can you tell us how and what this involves
Yes, part of my job is highlighting Reading Force to veterans by working with organisations supporting them. I think the term ‘veteran’ is misleading as the general perception of a ‘veteran’ is of an elderly man (a World War II veteran, for example) whereas veterans reflect society as a whole and are as likely to have young children as grandchildren and even great-grandchildren!
I find the best way of reaching veterans is to get out and about to meet them, for example going to family events and breakfast/lunch clubs. To name a few, I have visited the Erskine Reid Macewen Activities Centre on several occasions where I chatted to veterans and their partners about sharing stories with their grandchildren, helping them to choose books for them as well. I have also worked with Veterans Tribe Scotland to give books and scrapbooks to both children and grandchildren at events and attended family events with BLESMA and The Royal Marines Charity.
I also try to raise awareness in schools that Reading Force is for veteran families as well as serving ones – for some children and young people, when a parent leaves the Armed Forces, it means a loss of part of their identity too and we are keen to ensure they still fell included in the military family.
What are your favourite aspects of your job?
Without a doubt, the best part of my job is getting out and about, especially going to families’ events and chatting to families. I love seeing children getting pleasure from touching (on the odd occasion, with sticky fingers!) and choosing books and chatting to them about which books they like, or don’t like. Sometimes, someone will say they don’t like reading, so I suggest that perhaps they haven’t found the right book yet. I then help them to choose a book and say that they don’t have to like it, but it’s good to keep trying….and that, because it’s free, their parents haven’t spent any money on a book they might not like! For events, I always have a small selection of non-fiction books as some children prefer them and, sometimes, it can mean the difference between a child going home with a book or not. I love seeing the smiles on children’s faces when they find a book they like, especially if they sit down there and then to start reading it!
You have achieved a lot in your time working with RF – do you have particular ambitions/ideas you would like to see in action?
I can’t believe where the past seven years have gone – I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve done so far! My main ambition is always to reach as many families as possible, but I would like us to be able to reach more families with children with additional needs. We are able to source books for children with, for example, dyslexia but I’m aware there are families with children with complex needs who may not be aware that we can cater for them. I would like to let them know that we can work with them to give their children and young people appropriate books.
Thank you for answering these questions! One last question, can you tell us a little about a book you’ve read recently (children’s or adult) and would you recommend it to the Reading Force community?
A book that has stayed long in my mind is Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It tells the story of Sam and Sadie who first meet when they are 12 and 11 years old respectively. Despite their different backgrounds, they become best friends through their shared love of playing video games, but a misunderstanding means they don’t see each other for several years when they meet again by chance. Their friendship is reignited and they go on to establish ‘Unfair Games’, producing successful video games. Despite their enduring friendship, their relationship is complex and fraught with differences, challenges and heartache. At its core it is a story about friendship, but it is about much more than that: the themes of disability, sexism, race, identity, depression, pain, grief and loss, video games as an art form and the making and power of art in general, but in a way that never feels too heavy-handed.
I must confess, I know nothing about video games, but it took me into an unfamiliar world which I found interesting, and the themes mentioned above are the same no matter what the background is. I would highly recommend this book to the Reading Force community!
Thank you so much Fiona!
The role of Reading Force Ambassador in Scotland is generously supported by Annington Ltd.
