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British Land partners with WHSmith to find 3,000 novel ways to support the National Literacy Trust
29 Mar 2012
British Land is pleased to announce that it is working with one of its key tenants, WHSmith, this spring to support the National Literacy Trust’s Young Readers Programme. The programme helps children to develop a love of reading and improve their literacy.
British Land has committed £35,000 to fund projects in four communities close to its retail assets in Glasgow (Glasgow Fort Shopping Park), Speke (New Mersey Shopping Park), Rotherham (Parkgate Shopping) and Stockton-on-Tees (Teesside Shopping Park).
The Young Readers Programme targets schools where the greatest difference can be made in giving children new opportunities. In all, 11 schools will participate and 1,000 children will have bespoke visits to the shopping parks created for them by British Land’s centre management team in partnership with WHSmith. British Land has helped tailor the programme with the National Literacy Trust to ensure that it makes a significant impact on the children, schools and communities involved and centre management staff will lead the groups of children during their visits. A variety of reading events have been organised featuring guest readers and children’s characters. At the events, the children are shown how to make good book choices and then use their new skills to choose three new books to keep.
WHSmith, a long-term funder of the Young Readers Programme, will host visits for the children and their teachers to the stores at the shopping parks, encouraging the children to explore the £1 books produced exclusively for World Book Day 2012, as well as the wide variety of children’s reading available. WHSmith is also donating vouchers to the participating schools to help them boost the school’s library resources and for the children to help to sustain their interest in reading. School visits to the parks will take place throughout March.
Ben Grose, Head of Retail Asset Management for British Land, said: “As the UK’s largest listed retail landlord, British Land is delighted to be working with one of our key tenants, WHSmith, and the National Literacy Trust to encourage children to fall in love with reading. The three key ingredients of the programme are enjoyment, choice and ownership.
“The programme is being delivered with the active involvement of the local centre management teams and is great for helping families see how accessible books can be and show them that children can buy and enjoy books for themselves at an early age, giving them lifelong pleasure and opportunities.”
Rachel Russell, Books Director for WHSmith, commented: “WHSmith has been a supporter of the National Literacy Trust for many years and we are pleased to have the opportunity to extend our work with the Young Readers Programme through this new partnership with British Land. Our staff are really excited about welcoming the 1,000 school children into our stores to join in the World Book Day celebrations and start to discover the pleasure of reading.”
Caroline Sence, who manages the programme for the National Literacy Trust added: “One in three children in the UK does not own a book of their own. Our nationwide programme, with support from British Land and its shopping parks, aims to tackle this deprivation in the most practical way.”
