Hulme Winter Festival

Children’s reading book donation to families in Hulme as part of the wider Hulme Winter Festival.

Benefits of Reading

Reading has been linked to a wide range of benefits and has been shown to have a positive effect on health and wellbeing, intellectual, personal, and social outcomes. Reading for pleasure is associated with a greater sense of community and social inclusion, as well as having positive effects on mental wellbeing. For adults, it can lead to improved confidence and social skills and it improves educational attainment for children. Shared reading groups can improve wellbeing and reduce social isolation.

Location

Hulme

Project team

Buzz Neighbourhood Health Workers & Start Well Develop Well Team

Manchester City Council

Z arts

Martenscroft Children’s Centre and Nursery school

Aim

Provide a reading book for the children and vulnerable families of Hulme, around about 50 in total, allowing them to develop their literacy and their interest in reading.

Testimony

"The books were put to good use, some went to schools, along with the selection boxes and funding which we gave to schools.

They were really pleased and reported that the children that received them were excited and some began reading straight away. Some of the books also went to the foodbank and they put them into the Christmas Hampers that they allocated to vulnerable families in Hulme and Moss Side.

thank you for the donations they went to those in need” – Pauline Campbell – Neighbourhood Officer for Hulme – Manchester City Council.

Evaluation

The donation of reading books to the vulnerable children and families of Hulme, as apart of the winter festival, has highlighted that there is a real interest and excitement in reading amongst our communities.

Strategic link

Benefit	Policy
Increased mental wellbeing	Manchester Health and Wellbeing Strategy
Social inclusion More engaged in community	Manchester Population Health Plan NHS Five Year Forward View (Department of Health, 2014)
Reduces health inequalities (as a result of improved literacy)	Fair Society, Healthy Lives (Institute of Health Equity, 2010)
Increased educational attainment	Our Manchester Strategy