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Case studies
Please tell us about your experience of the Six Book Challenge - either on the Blog or direct to us.
Public libraries develop new models
Around two-thirds of public library services across the UK take part in the Six Book Challenge each year providing a solid core of support for the scheme through their links with an ever-widening range of partners. As well as adult...
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28 November 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Yvonne takes the Challenge at De Montfort
Yvonne Hirst, aged 50, is a cleaning supervisor at De Montfort University in Leicester where she has worked for 20 years. Having felt that education had bypassed her until recently, Yvonne was encouraged to take part in the Six Book...
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17 October 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Tanya's Six Book Challenge poem
Tanya has cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user. Her husband of nine years is also disabled. Born in Penrith, Cumbria where she was left in hospital by her mother, she has since overcome many other challenges in her life,...
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7 October 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Margaret overcomes challenge of dyslexia
Margaret lives in South Oxhey, near Watford, and worked for 35 years as a hospital cleaner. Now retired, she cares for her husband who has Parkinson's Disease. She explains: "It all began when my daughter emigrated two years ago. I...
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25 September 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Jean rediscovers the joy of reading
Jean Matthews took part in the Six Book Challenge through Bolton College. She explains: "After the sister whom I cared for passed away last year, people were saying that I should try and get out more. I have another sister...
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18 September 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Keith says "Just give reading a go".
Keith Orrell was knocked down in a road accident as a young man and lost the ability to read and write. He worked for 25 years as a night shift warehouse supervisor for a local supermarket, but is now attending...
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11 September 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Brent completer looks forward to her next Challenge
Noelle Ramjeee came to the UK in the 1970s and worked as a nursing auxiliary. Since retiring in 2008 she has been going to college in Brent and has recently taken her Level 2 English exam. "I first heard about...
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11 September 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Mother of six finds time for reading
Kirsty, mother to six children aged from 11 to 18 months, started going to Bolton College in November 2010 to do numeracy and English with the ambition of becoming a teaching assistant. "Going to college has been the best thing...
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11 September 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Another David Cameron gets into reading
David Cameron currently works for the Subway sandwich chain and has been studying English in adult literacy classes at Trafford College since autumn 2010: "I joined up basically to improve my English. That was where I first heard about the...
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23 May 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Our oldest Challenge completer?
The Prince of Wales residential home in Ipswich has 49 residents in their 80s and 90s, many of whom have sight problems and varying stages of dementia. Suffolk Libraries visit the home but Pat Palmer, the activities co-ordinator, also has...
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26 April 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Boots Logistics Training Centre
It can be daunting to run the Six Book Challenge on a large site spread over a different departments. The key will always be good communication and teamwork to ensure that participation can be spread equally. At the Boots depot...
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28 March 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Welsh bakers take up the Challenge
Premier Foods RF Brookes in Gwent was one of the very first workplaces in Wales to take up the Six Book Challenge when they ran it in 2010. Even in the first year Vicky Watkins, BFAWU (Bakers' Union) project coordinator...
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28 March 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
POA learning centre at Ashworth Hospital
This very busy learning centre at Ashworth Hospital in Maghull on Merseyside supports both NHS and prison staff. Reading has long been high on the list of what the centre has to offer with the Quick Reads incorporated into literacy...
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28 March 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Lancashire Care NHS
The Challenge has gone well with staff in many NHS settings, especially in the North West. But Lancashire Care may be setting the bar even higher with over 300 participants signed up for 2011, 100 in the first two weeks....
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28 March 2011 by Genevieve Clarke
Suffolk uses Big Quick Read to support the Challenge
"The Six Book Challenge has been a bit of a revelation to us this year," says Roger McMaster, Head of Suffolk Libraries. "We joined forces with the widest range of partners yet to promote the Challenge to people at all...
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13 December 2010 by Genevieve Clarke
Terry gets them reading in Oldham
Among 90 workplaces that got involved in 2010, Shop Direct at Chadderton near Oldham achieved the best success in terms of numbers. USDAW union learning rep and learning pad coordinator Terry Dean managed to recruit a total of 182 participants...
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9 December 2010 by Genevieve Clarke
Student Ken takes Challenge to workplace
Ken is such an enthusiast for the Six Book Challenge that he's now introducing it to his workmates at Littlewoods Clearance near Bolton in his new role as a union learning rep. "The Challenge can open up all sorts of...
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9 November 2010 by Genevieve Clarke
Satisfied readers in Brent
Brent Libraries registered the most participants in 2010 with 769 people signed up through organisations such as Brent Adult and Community Education Services (BACES), the College of North West London and local community groups. Among them was Blossom, who came...
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9 November 2010 by Genevieve Clarke
Never too old to try!
Derbyshire Libraries are working with local workplaces in 2010 in addition to colleges and adult education. Gwen Gregory completed the Challenge through her class at Long Eaton in 2009. "At school I never really grasped reading and spelling, but it...
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10 March 2010 by Genevieve Clarke