AN ORGANISATION which helps adults to read is looking for volunteers to joint its management team.
Read Easy Wyre Forest and Bridgnorth is currently struggling to find a new volunteer recruiter and a venues organiser.
The group could also do with some assistance with IT and social media.
Steve Peckham, Read Easy Wyre Forest and Bridgnorth’s team leader and chairman, said: “Most roles on the team work out at an average of a few hours per week, often less, sometimes a little more.
“They are not onerous roles, but we need to fill them to keep up the right support for our reading coaches and new readers.”
Statistics show that, in Wyre Forest, around seven per cent of the working age adult population can barely read at all, with another eight per cent or so having very poor literacy skills. This equates to around 15,000 adults in the district who struggle with reading.
Being unable to read – a skill many people take for granted –poses a number of barriers in everyday life.
As well as difficulties in the workplace with written instructions and health and safety directives, people need to read essential information on food allergens, prescribed medicines and other safety instructions in the home.
Other tasks are also hampered, including filling in forms for employment, school or services, reading important letters, emails and household bills and even completing tasks, such as using a cash machine, shopping, registering to vote or travel information.
Some of the hardest situations for adults include being unable to read a story to their children or grandchildren or being unable to help them with their homework.
And Read Easy is often not to do with intelligence, it is more about people never actually learning. Some adults who do not read lead successful and contented lives, but poor reading skills are often associated with poverty and unemployment, homelessness, crime (around 50 per cent of people in prison are unable to read), poor physical and mental health, isolation and depression, low self-esteem and lack of confidence.
Sandra’s Read Easy journey
One person who came to Read Easy in October 2022 was Sandra who found out about the scheme through a friend.
She has worked patiently and determinedly to improve her reading skills.
Her close working partnership with her reading coach, Tracy, has seen those efforts rewarded recently when Sandra graduated from the Read Easy scheme.
Sandra said: “Learning to read has made me very happy. It’s given me a lot more confidence.
“I used to hold back, fearing someone would use a long word or ask me to read something.
“I now feel I can stand on my own two feet and tackle anything.
“Learning to read has 100 per cent changed my life and I’m now going to think about taking a course of some kind.”
Anyone interested in joining the Read Easy management team should call Steve Peckham on 07867 745621 or email [email protected] for more information on the role, an informal chat and the answers to any questions they may have. Anyone with a close relative or friend who is unable to read is urged to tell them about Read Easy Wyre Forest.
They can call Raine on 07800 860299 or email her at [email protected] or Sue on 07807 836746 or at [email protected] for more information about help with reading.
