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Rotary Magazine for District 1210

The Alumni 1210 Rotary Books4Home project gifted its 100,000th book to youngsters in our district
earlier this year.
100,000 children in D1210, many for the first time, now have a book of their very own to read, take
home and keep forever. One in five children aged five to eight do not have a book of their own at
home. Children and young people who do have a book of their own at home are six times more likely
to read above the level expected for their age compared with their peers who don’t have their own
book, research from the National Literacy Trust shows. Every single book will make a difference in
the world.

To celebrate this milestone, an event was held on Sunday 8th January in The County Buildings,
Stafford. The afternoon was all about saying a massive thank you to everyone involved with this
hugely successful project. Thousands of people have donated pre-read books. Hundreds of Rotarians
throughout District 1210 have helped by donating storage space for the books, transport assistance
and book sorting time. Rotarians liaise with schools and teachers to get Rotary Books4Home projects
working in many different areas of our large district.
Rotarians, Alumni, teachers, together with many Rotary Books4Home Volunteers were joined by
District Governor Steve Antill, Deputy Lieutenant of Staffordshire Mr Graham Morley, The
Worshipful Mayor and Mayoress, Councillor (and Rotarian) Philip Leason MBE, JP and Mrs Edith
Leason, Chairman of Staffordshire County Council Paul Snape and his consort Mrs Susie Snape and
Vice-Chairman of Staffordshire County
Council Phil Hewitt and his consort Mrs
Adrienne Hewitt.
The celebration included hiding golden
tickets inside the 100,000th book gifted.
Four books had tickets inside; one sent to
schools in four different areas within
District 1210. The youngsters chose books
as normal and the golden tickets were then
discovered by four lucky children in their
books. The “winning” children came to the
celebration and received special prizes of
signed copies of books from Michael
Morpurgo and Jacqueline Wilson
presented by District Governor Steve.

28 ROTO SPRING 2023