Words by Smiley Team
The benefits of reading stories for children are huge; it fires up their imagination, encourages creativity, helps family bonding and can provide an escape from tough situations.
But it’s not just children who enjoy reading stories; older people aged 65 plus are the most frequent group to visit libraries.
And new charity the Big Book Club aims to bridge the storytelling gap between the two generations.
It was while watching a TV show where four-year-olds meet residents of nursing homes that Lee Price and his wife Katie decided to set up the project.
Lee recalls: “Both Katie and I sobbed our way through the show. Seeing the amazing impact that children reading stories had on older people was inspiring.
“The TV show was a one off project, but we both wanted to make something similar happen in our community on a more regular basis.
“Our daughter Astrix is almost three, and seeing how much pleasure she gets from reading stories with her great-grandparents, and them from reading to her, made us want to create that experience for older people in our local area who may well feel lonely or isolated.”
The pair recruited a series of trustees and formed the charity. Their pilot project will take place in the coming weeks at a local nursing home in Milton Keynes, Bucks, and they then plan to increase their scale and reach.
Lee said: “The Big Book Club is an opportunity to get away from screens, get away from division in society and, most importantly, get into a good book.
“The benefits of children spending time with elderly people are profound, on both parties. While the value of reading almost goes unsaid.
“What we do is really very simple – we encourage reading, learning, and sharing. As well as exploring the books we provide, we think there’s just as much, if not more, to gain from the time spent with someone from a different generation.”
But what they now need are books. The project wants to create a library of stories which both young children and elderly people will find engaging and enjoyable, which they can use on their visits.
In the future The Big Book Club also want to donate books to schools whose stocks may be tired or out of date, giving kids the opportunity to read new and modern stories which reflect the work around them.
Lee added: “We want to make sure the books we use are exciting and treasurable. We only get one shot at a first impression, we don’t want to turn children off from reading.”
If you could fund a children’s book for the project then The Big Book Club have a wishlist at Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/56L808E7ZC9T?ref_=wl_share
You can also visit their website to donate: bigbookclub.co.uk/
By Jenna Sloan
