Young residents who volunteered to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge were thanked for their hard work at a special celebration held in their honour.
The youngsters were presented with certificates, medals and chocolates by Cllr Sue Shinnick, Mayor of Thurrock, at the ceremony held at the Civic Hall, Blackshots on Thursday 16 October.
This year’s Story Garden Summer Reading Challenge, held across all Thurrock libraries, encouraged 2,340 children to read over the summer holidays, beating 2024's figure.
The Summer Reading Challenge encourages children of all ages to keep reading what they enjoy over the summer, helping maintain and improve their reading skills for when they return back to school.
Of those who signed up to the Summer Reading Challenge, 1,457 children successfully completed it by reading 6 books or more.
Cllr Shinnick said: “Our volunteers have shown incredible commitment and enthusiasm, giving their time to make a real difference in our libraries and in the lives of local children. Their efforts have inspired a love of reading and community spirit that we are all extremely proud of.”
In total 61 volunteers contributed more than 1,200 hours to the reading challenge over the summer. Forty-two of them are aged between 13 and 15 and nineteen are aged between 16 and 17.
Their role included supporting the reading challenge by giving out rewards and listening to children talk about their books, presenting children with stickers, medals and certificates, as well as encouraging them to keep reading.
Amelie, who volunteered for the third year running and completed 18 and a half hours at Blackshots library over the summer, said: “I enjoyed the fact that I was helping our local library and helping kids enjoy reading.”
William, who has supported the reading challenge for four years and this year spent 52 hours volunteering at Grays, East Tilbury and Aveley libraries, said: “I like talking to the kids and finding out how much they enjoy their books. I really enjoy what we’re doing, and I like helping out.”
Maheera volunteered for 17 hours at Grays Library. She said: “I found it really fun, talking to the children, asking them what they enjoyed about the books they were reading.”
Dasia also volunteered for 17 hours at Grays. Dasia said: “I really enjoyed it and I liked socialising with the children. I looked at other volunteering opportunities and this was definitely the best type of volunteering.”
To learn more about the Summer Reading Challenge, visit:
Children's Summer Reading Challenge | What's on at your library | Thurrock Council
