Thursday 13 November 2008

Independent charity, the National Literacy Trust (NLT) celebrated its 15^th anniversary at a reception in the House of Commons, hosted by Lyn Brown MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Libraries and Literacy and sponsored by Edexcel.

The NLT was joined by nearly 120 MPs, peers, funders and those who have benefited from its reading and writing programmes. Speaking at the event was Minister of State for Schools, Jim Knight MP congratulated the National Literacy Trust on its achievements.  

Since the NLT was founded in 1993, literacy rates have increased with 80% of 11-year-olds reaching levels expected for their age in 2007, compared with 56% in 1995.The charity’s work has included raising over £5 million to support and inspire children and adult learners and leading the successful 2008 National Year of Reading and the 1998/9 National Year of Reading.

Other achievements include encouraging over 100 professional footballers to participate in reading and writing programmes to inspire over 76,000 children and adults, and engaging over 2,000 schools and 100 prisons in programmes to promote reading.

The event’s guests included bestseller and Quick Reads author Adele Parks; illustrators Helen Craig and Axel Scheffler, who have donated work to an NLT fundraising auction; and reading role models Graeme Murty from Reading FC and performance artist Mr Midas.

Speaking on the work of the Trust, Lyn Brown MP said:

“I was delighted to host the celebration of the National Literacy Trust’s 15^th birthday. The Trust can be proud of its many achievements and has certainly moved closer to achieving its vision of everyone having the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills needed to fulfil their own and, ultimately, the nation’s potential”.  

National Literacy Trust director Jonathan Douglas said:

“We can be proud of what we have achieved so far, and the tangible impact we have made on the literacy landscape. Yet, demands on literacy skills are rapidly increasing and there is still much to do to reach those people who are in most need of literacy support.

With your help, we will transform the life opportunities of thousands more children and adults from disadvantaged communities over the next 15 years.”

To celebrate the charity’s 15^th anniversary, the publishers HarperCollins Publishers made a donation of seven and half thousand books. These were distributed by The Returns Company and given away to local families in Rochdale, Staffordshire and Lambeth.