Charlotte Nichols, MP for Warrington North, recently visited the Cheshire Education Library Service to promote and celebrate the National Year of Reading.
The visit included a tour of the service’s facilities, in addition to look at their selection of books, artefacts and learning resources. The service is a fantastic resource for schools and children across Warrington and Cheshire, supporting schools to expand and develop their own libraries. They do this through providing book loan packages as well as advice, training and inspirational activity packages to engage children and young people with reading for pleasure.
This year they will also be marking the 20th year of the Cheshire Schools’ Book Award 2026, allowing students to nominate and vote for their favourite books. The award ceremony has also seen visits from best selling authors including Robin Stevens, Stewart Foster, Simon James Green and Cynthia Murphy, giving students an opportunity to hear directly from the authors and get their favourite books signed.
The National Year of Reading is a major initiative that the government has launched in collaboration with the National Literacy trust to combat falling rates of reading for enjoyment and instead encourage daily reading habits for all children by focusing on reading for pleasure.
Alongside encouraging children to read, the government is also recruiting 6,500 more teachers, introducing free breakfast clubs and rolling out school-based nurseries to drive up education standards in our schools and cut the cost of living for families.
Charlotte Nichols MP added, “It was wonderful to hear about the work the service do to support local schools with their libraries, helping to bring the magic of reading and writing alive.
“As a bookworm myself, I know how beneficial reading can be for your own wellbeing, but also for the learning and development of children.
“Thank you to Susannah, the Lead Librarian, and her team for hosting such a lovely visit, and to the dedicated librarians across the region who are so passionate about encouraging reading and making a difference to children’s education everyday.”
