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Novelist Mike Gayle Visits Liverpool to Celebrate Adult Literacy
Learners’ Achievements
BEST-SELLING
author Mike Gayle will attend a special ceremony at Costa Coffee, 13
Bold Street on Wednesday 9 July to celebrate the achievements of
adult literacy learners in Liverpool who have recently completed a
national 6 Book Challenge.
The Skills for Life National Needs and Impact Survey of Literacy,
Numeracy and IT skills, published in October 2003, estimated that in
England, 5.2 million adults aged 16 to 65 have literacy levels below
Level 1 - broadly equivalent in difficulty to an English GCSE at
grades D-G.
The Reading Agency, the independent charity working to get more
people reading more, launched the new annual 6 Book Challenge in
association with the Costa Book Awards earlier this year to engage
adults who want to improve their literacy skills in reading for
pleasure. The Challenge also forms part of The Reading Agency’s
Vital Link programme for libraries and adult literacy.
The 6 Book Challenge
invites adult literacy learners to read 6 books whilst supporting
them with incentives and creative reading activities. Designed
to run from January to June each year, the Challenge is delivered
through libraries in partnership with organisations such as
colleges, community adult education, trade unions and prisons which
work closely with emergent readers – adults who can read but who
have yet to build reading stamina and experience.
Adult learners who have completed the Challenge will attend the
special event that will see Mike Gayle, novelist and Patron of the 6
Book Challenge, personally present each Challenge completer with a
signed certificate.
“Reading and sharing what we have read is one of life’s
pleasures. Liverpool Libraries are pleased to be
involved in a scheme which extends this to people living in our
communities.” commented Andy Johnson, Lifelong Learning
Services Manager.
All participants who signed up to join the Challenge earlier this
year received a free Costa coffee card and completers are
automatically entered into a prize draw to win an all-expenses paid
trip to London for two, courtesy of the Costa Book Awards.
40% of libraries across Liverpool have been offering the 6 Book
Challenge in partnership with local colleges and adult community
learning. The 6 Book Challenge was piloted successfully by
libraries across Yorkshire in 2007 with around 1000 participants.
Libraries found it an excellent way of working with learning
providers. Tutors were convinced that it can help their learners and
adult learners felt a real sense of achievement. 2/3rds of
library services across the UK signed up to the new national
Challenge, plus 50 prisons and another 50 learning organizations.
Full results will be available after the Challenge finishes but it
is anticipated that up to 5000 people will have participated across
the UK.
Teresa Howarth took the Challenge at Fazakerley Drop-in Study
Centre. She said:- “I don’t normally read books at all. I’ve
been doing some courses to refresh my skills and I’ve just taken the
Level 2 English test.
The Quick Reads were ideal for me because
they’re short books - they’re fabulous.”
Libraries and adult literacy organisations in Liverpool and the rest
of the UK are now planning celebration events for their learners who
have completed the Challenge.
“We are thrilled that in the first year of this exciting
experiment libraries across Liverpool have been offering the
Challenge this spring.” said Genevieve Clarke, Senior
Project Manager at The Reading Agency.
"We’re getting
feedback all the time about how people’s lives are being changed by
discovering that they can read for pleasure and improve their skills
at the same time.
Anything that encourages adult
learners to get stuck into a good read has got to be a good thing in
my book!
It's great that The Reading Agency
and the Costa Book Awards have teamed up to make this happen and I’m
really looking forward to meeting the Challenge completers and
hearing their reading success stories.”
said Mike Gayle.
For more information about the 6 Book Challenge, please visit
sixbookchallenge.org.uk. |
NEW
PET FOOD DELIVERY SERVICE COMES TO THE RESCUE OF SOUTHPORT PET
OWNERS
MAHATMA Gandhi
once wrote that you can tell a lot about a community by the way they
treat their animals. Southport pet owners can now make sure their
pets feel truly pampered as Oscar Pet Foods, the UK’s leading pet
food delivery service, officially comes to town.
Local businessman Paul Reilly is offering a ‘complete pet care
service’ to the pet owners of Southport - delivering bespoke
products and services directly to the door to give local pets a
happier, healthier and longer life.
Paul is one of a nationwide team of Oscar Pet Foods Nutritional
Advisors and will be delivering all natural food, as well as
behavioural and nutritional advice to Southport’s pet owners. Paul
can also tailor products to suit a pet’s digestion and age, as well
as aid specific problems such as skin irritation, poor coat,
allergies and obesity.
Commenting on his new business venture, Paul says:- “I really
enjoy the freedom of being self-employed and prior to joining
Oscars, I was looking for a new challenge.
I wanted to build a
business that would be sustainable over a long period of time and
that also had a lot of potential for growth.
Oscar Pet Food’s
presented the perfect opportunity as its product range has already
proved to be extremely successful in the UK, with plans for further
expansion.
Just like humans, every pet is different - with
their own tastes, likes, dislikes and problems, Oscar Pet Foods
understands this and so we tailor products to suit each individual
animal’s needs.”
If you would like any information on Oscar Pet Foods in your area or
would like to take advantage of a free consultation and food sample,
call Paul Reilly on 07967 837 676.
COAL BECOMES A HARD POLITICAL OPTION
EU Environment
Ministers meeting in Paris have been told they must set a timetable
to end the building of conventional coal power stations.
Addressing the ministers, local Euro-MP Chris Davies, the European
Parliament's lead negotiator on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS),
has warned that the use of coal now comes at a heavy political
price.
Chris Davies cautioned:- "Across Europe we are going to see
more and more protests every time a coal-fired power station gets
approved.
Maybe we are just talking about letters of condemnation.
Or maybe we are talking about mass civil protest, sabotage of
contractors' equipment, years and years of disruption."
The MEP argued that Europe must take a lead in developing CCS if it
is to persuade China and India to stop building conventional
coal-fired power stations as part of an international agreement to
curb global warming.
The French Presidency of the European Commission has given a
commitment to prepare a CCS action plan and Mr Davies called on
Ministers to ensure that it includes:-
* Identification of CCS demonstration projects - In spring last year
the EU Heads of Government committed themselves to support 10-12
large scale projects. 16 months later not a single one has yet been
identified, although the UK is further advanced than any other
Member State.
* Establishment of a funding mechanism to bridge the initial gap
between CCS innovation and commercial viability. Chris Davies is
proposing the granting of tradable carbon allowances for every tonne
of CO2 buried deep underground.
* Setting a 2015 date for making CCS a mandatory requirement for new
coal power stations. Mr Davies will challenge Ministers to explain
if they are prepared to allow conventional coal-fired power stations
to continue being opened as late as 2022 or beyond, with each one
wiping out the benefits of energy saving and development of
renewables. |
