Following on from last week’s speech in Parliament regarding children’s literacy and access to books, I was delighted to launch the Summer Reading Challenge in Parliament this week – something I have done for the last eight years.
There can often be a dip in children’s reading level during the summer holidays, and the Summer Reading Challenge is a fantastic initiative designed to encourage all primary-age children to keep reading for fun throughout the summer break.
The theme of this year’s challenge is ‘Ready, Set, Read!’, which aims to unleash the power of play, sport and physical activity through reading. As many will know, in addition to promoting reading for fun, keeping children fit and active throughout the holidays is another issue I am passionate about – so this theme ticks both boxes!
The Summer Reading Challenge is a fantastic initiative, and I really would encourage young people to take part!
Locally, last weekend I attended the Walk A Mile event in Swindon town centre, alongside my colleagues Robert Buckland MP and the Mayor Barbara Parry. Walk A Mile is an event I support every year, joining carers and supporters of Swindon Carers Centre as they walk through the Town Centre. Walk A Mile is very important way to both recognise their important contribution and highlight the wider support the Swindon Carers Centre can offer.
The Walk A Mile event is held during Carers Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness and show our appreciation for the brilliant work of our unpaid carers. It is estimated that 3 in 5 people will be carers at some point in their lives, with 18,315 in Swindon.
I have supported a number of charities and organisations in Swindon who do fantastic work to support carers, many of whom use my Community Office for their meetings and events. It is always a pleasure to see their work first-hand, and I want to say a huge thank you for everything they do in our community. In a recent Parliamentary debate I was able to highlight Tim Saint, the Swindon Carers Welfare Advisor who I have worked closely with to resolve issues on behalf of residents for many years. I was delighted to take the opportunity to praise Tim’s work.
As a longstanding supporter, last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting the Thamesdown Hydrotherapy Pool based on Jefferies Avenue in Upper Stratton to hear more about the great work they do supporting patient rehabilitation through hydrotherapy.
The centre has now been open for 44 years, typically providing support to 700 patients a week across Swindon and Wiltshire. As a fully accessible site with one of the largest hoist systems in the South of England, which can take users to showers, toilets and directly into the pool itself, they support users with a wide range of mobility issues to use the facilities.
I was hugely impressed by Dave Berry, Neil Montgomery and the team at the centre, who work incredibly hard to provide this vital service. The Centre has recently launched a £100,000 appeal to raise funds to repair their roof, and it is estimated that after just three or four weeks they have already raised a quarter of the target. I have no doubt local residents, businesses and organisations will continue to rally around to support this wonderful organisation!
