Doorstep Library is now in Camden! As we reached for the doorknocker on our first doorstep, an ominous rumbling sounded in the skies over Camden. A minute later, the heavens opened, and hail hammered down over our brand new Somers Town Project. Undeterred, we delivered books to the excited children we’ve met there and we’ll be back in Camden again next week, come rain or shine!
Our Somers Town project is Doorstep Library’s first in Camden. We will be visiting families in the area to lend books on their doorsteps, and starting our doorstep reading visits with our little stools as soon as it is safe for us to do so. We’re not just in Somers Town, though. This past year has been a challenge, but our new Online Reading Corner means that we can offer our free Online Reading Sessions and Read & Play Groups to even more families across Camden, enabling us to reach more doorsteps virtually than ever before.
Our services in Camden are made possible with support from The Mercers Company, as part of their young people’s Literacy Programme. The programme works with charities to enable more children and young people in London to read and write for pleasure. We are also working in partnership with Two Magpies who support families in the Camden area.
With one in four 11-year-olds leaving primary school unable to read or write properly, we recruit and train Home and Online Reading Volunteers to go into some of the most disadvantaged areas of London to help introduce young children (aged 0-11 years) to the pleasure of reading. Take a look at our recent Impact Report to find out more about the difference we make. Currently, 500 children benefit from Doorstep Library projects in London, and we want to support as many as possible in Camden.
If you have a reading referral please do get in touch
Our volunteers are all checked and trained and many of them have been reading with children for years. Our service is about reading for pleasure and we know that it offers vital support for children and their parents with fantastic results. All you need to do is give us a referral of a child who you think would benefit from additional support and we will do the rest. You can introduce us, or we can get in touch directly.
Katie Bareham, CEO of Doorstep Library said: We are delighted to be working in partnership with The Mercers Company and to have launched our very first project in Camden. Doorstep Library is now in its 10th year and this project sees our expansion into a fourth London borough. We are keen to work closely with schools and other professionals in the Camden area, who can identify children that might need that additional support each week. We know that reading in the home has a huge impact not just on the children we visit, but on the whole family. Along with our latest on-the-ground project in Somers Town and the launch of our new Online Reading Corner we are now well placed to offer our tailored home reading service to even more families in the Camden area.
We believe in the power of making reading fun! If you do, too, we’d love to hear from you.
Contact Julia on 07340 383 647 or email julia@doorsteplibrary.org.uk to set up a referral pathway for your organisation.
