Health & Wellbeing Arts, Culture & Heritage 2024
The Reader

Impact Report 2023-2024

The Reader is the UK's largest Shared Reading charity, based at Calderstones Park in Liverpool. The 2023-24 Impact Report documents 496 Shared Reading groups across the UK, reaching 20,778 participants across community, criminal justice, health and children's settings, alongside 395,000 visits to its home at Calderstones and the Storybarn playspace. International Shared Reading activity reaches 18 countries with 300+ trained Reader Leaders.

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📋About

Shared Reading groups in community settings, libraries, care homes, cathedrals, hospitals, prisons and closed settings; Reading Heroes programme for care-experienced children aged 2-15 (expanded outside Liverpool City Region); Tiny Heroes pre-school Shared Reading for care-experienced children; First Page Project family reading with North West partner organisations; Storybarn children's playspace and holiday clubs; ESOL Shared Reading groups for asylum seekers and refugees; Criminal Justice Shared Reading in 28 PIPEs (Psychologically Informed Planned Environments); chronic pain Shared Reading group at Broadgreen Hospital (13 years); 50 new community mental health groups established; National Lottery Heritage Fund 'Making Meaning at Calderstones' project concluded with permanent artwork installation

📊Key Metrics

Total income £4,350,000 and total expenditure £4,980,000 (year ended 31 March 2024); 395,000+ visits to Calderstones; 20,778 UK Shared Reading participants Key Metric 1
496 Shared Reading groups across the UK; 625 UK volunteers; Shared Reading active in 18 countries internationally with 300+ trained Reader Leaders abroad Key Metric 2
16,850 visits to the Storybarn; 1,320 people attended Christmas Story Trail; £120,000 in ticket income; 62,998 cups of coffee and 66,942 scoops of ice cream served Key Metric 3

✅Key Outcomes

  • 97% of Shared Reading participants look forward to the group as an important part of their week; 95% say Shared Reading lifts their mood; 90% say Shared Reading gives them space to put day-to-day concerns to one side
  • 100% of Reading Heroes participants reported significant improvements in wellbeing; 12 ESOL Shared Reading groups established for asylum seekers and refugees; 1,297 children engaged in heritage school trips
  • National Lottery Heritage Fund heritage project concluded with installation of permanent public artwork 'Now We Sit With It' by Sumuyya Khader; 5,500+ volunteer hours contributed; new partnerships with Camden Council, Halton Borough Council and Alder Hey Children's Hospital; Criminal Justice contract renewed for Shared Reading in 28 PIPEs nationally

📍Geography

North West

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