The Point of Light award acknowledges volunteers who make a difference in society. It is administered by the Prime Minister’s office, in collaboration with the Department for Culture Media and Sport. Reading Force are proud to announce that its founder Alison Baverstock has been recognised.
Alison is thrilled to receive this Point of Light Award:
“I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the team that manages and delivers Reading Force. Forces families tend to be out of the limelight; we excel at just getting on with it, and so for the Prime Minister to acknowledge both our efforts and the people we support, is a really precious thing”.
Publisher, writer, academic, and founder and director of Reading Force, Alison Baverstock has been linked with the Forces for nearly 40 years. She became an Army wife in her twenties, brought up four children with her soldier husband who served for 35 years, and is now the wife of a veteran. Through the years of managing a peripatetic military life and long periods during which her husband was deployed, Alison found sharing and talking about books helped them overcome the distance. She then asked her children to share books with him, talking about them over the phone when he was deployed, initially on training and in Northern Ireland and later in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and they too discovered this was a great way to connect.
Alison had the simple but effective brainwave that all military families could connect in this way, using books to keep children communicating well and connected to their deployed parents and to keep the parents far away from home involved in family life. In 2011 Reading Force was piloted in Aldershot, home of the British Army, with the addition of a scrapbook, which families could fill with their thoughts about the book shared. The pilot was a success and impacted families positively. Reading Force has expanded to become a national charity, supporting tri-service military families, ex-Forces families, cadets and reservists, throughout the UK and posted overseas, and gives every child who participates a special certificate.
Families find doing Reading Force helps with separation anxiety, staying connected with deployed parents, staying in touch with extended family, keeping continuity during disruptive periods, and best of all, they enjoy taking part and sharing books for pleasure! In 2019, Reading Force was a finalist in the Families category of the Soldiering-On Awards.
To date, working with schools, other military charities and organisations, the charity has distributed 120,000+ scrapbooks to Forces children, and posted books to share to 8,000+ children to encourage them to read together. The charity is directed by Alison and has three part-time members of staff.
For eight years, since day one of the Aldershot pilot, Alison has steered the Reading Force initiative with vision, compassion, and resourcefulness in the face of the financial challenges all charities contend with, entirely voluntarily. She has expanded Reading Force from a small pilot to the ‘go-to activity’ for schools who wish to better support their Forces children, and families who have discovered the benefits of taking part in Reading Force.
Notes to editors:
- Reading Force is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, Registered Charity No. 1159890. Member of Cobseo
- The initiative is free of charge and is available to ALL British military families, Army, Navy & Marines, and RAF, including Reservists and veterans.
- As well as free books, families are provided with a scrapbook to fill with thoughts, photographs and drawings about the book they’re reading together, and they can enter it into a competition and receive a special certificate
- The National Literacy Trust reports that children who own a book are 15 times more likely to read above the level expected for their age than their peers who don’t have their own books
- Shared reading is also proven to deliver a positive impact on a family’s social, emotional and mental wellbeing. It encourages more parents to be reading role models for their children, strengthens English as a second language and supports children’s empathy and friendships
- Organisations such as schools, nurseries and community groups can help raise awareness of Reading Force by displaying posters, distributing information flyers, and keeping stock of resources. Find out more at readingforce.org.uk/schools-groups
- Supporters of Reading Force include Annington, RAF Benevolent Fund, The Royal British Legion, and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity
- For press queries email hattie@readingforce.org.uk or call 07719298333
- For more information about Reading Force go to readingforce.org.uk
