Reading books allowed!

Where did September go? Forgive me but a holiday to the Isle of Skye and a flurry of activity that coincided with the return of the hubbub of schoolchildren on our local playing field conspired to keep me from updating my story until now.

My optimism in the 'dog days' at the end of of August, with 'another summer's promise almost gone' was channelled into a clutch of shared reading aloud 'taster' sessions. Having run several work-based lunch time sessions, a delightful open session in a local children's centre, and with more sessions lined up with our colleagues at Age UK Northampton, another family centre and hopefully our local library, it seems the time has come to consider establishing a dedicated voluntary organisation to manage the programme as it continues to develop. The options are currently being weighed but finding a name for the new organisation is proving a challenge. How do you capture the spirit and ethos of an activity that people can often begin to appreciate only once they have tried it for themselves? A number of suggestions have been made, 'page turners', 'chapter and verse' and the like but my current favourite is 'Books Allowed' (pun intended!).

This late summer sunshine has been delightful and has certainly inspired me to press on with spreading the word about the many benefits of participating in shared reading aloud. I'm pleased to say that more advocates are being gained each week. Our most recent potential converts were encountered at an away day I facilitated at the Mansion in Bletchley Park, aptly on National Poetry Day. We celebrated with a hiaku which amused me at least.

‘To-con-vey one's mood
In sev-en-teen syll-able-s
Is ve-ry dif-fic’

John Cooper Clarke