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National Year of Reading 2026
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Stories

Ailie, Lorraine, and Lyn’s story

Adult standing beside a car holding a box of donated books

We wanted to support the Children’s Book Project after seeing the incredible work they do to eradicate book poverty among children.

Organising a book drive felt like the perfect way to get our whole organisation involved without taking people away from their day jobs. This was actually our Division’s second year collecting books, and once again our charity committee reached out to all Divisional employees asking for donations. As usual, everyone was incredibly generous.

Using the resources available on the Children’s Book Project website, we promoted the drive internally and colleagues brought in books their children and other family members had grown out of. Others reached out to neighbours and friends for extra contributions. Books were dropped off at our head office, where we sorted, counted, and boxed them all up.

We set a clear timeframe for the book drive and were so pleased with the amazing donations that came in. Once everything was packed, we arranged to deliver the books to our local collection point in Coatbridge. The Children’s Book Project is always adding new donation points, which makes it really convenient to donate and made the whole process much easier for us this year — plus we got a fabulous photo of Ailie with her trolley load on our way into Asda!

“It felt wonderful knowing that books we had loved would now be gifted on to children who have few or no books of their own.”

Ailie, The Children’s Book Project volunteer

Running a book drive was a simple, enjoyable experience, and the Children’s Book Project team were always available to answer questions. It felt wonderful knowing that books we had loved would now be gifted on to children who have few or no books of their own, helping them discover the joy of reading. We would encourage everyone to run a book drive and support this fantastic initiative.

Find out more about volunteering at The Children’s Book Project

Click here to see a role description.

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Reading expands minds, builds confidence and fuels creativity. Yet with more distractions and less time, reading for pleasure is in decline across many groups.

The National Year of Reading 2026 is here to change that, by reconnecting reading with everyday culture.

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National Literacy Trust UK Government

NLT is proud to lead the Go All In campaign.
Registered Charity No. 1116260 (England & Wales).

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