Please help Read Easy Shropshire Hills

I’m a volunteer with Read Easy Shropshire Hills and I’m helping to raise funds so we can help more people like Billy learn to read. We provide free one-to-one coaching to adults in Shropshire, North Herefordshire and East Powys. Billy is just one of many people who missed out on learning to read at school, but at 60, Billy proves it's never too late to learn. Learning to read is literally life changing. It opens up a whole world of social and work opportunities and builds people's confidence.

A £10 donation would buy a reading manual, £56 would help us train a new coach and £100 would fund a reconditioned laptop for Zoom coaching.

Billy moved from school to school where he lives in Shropshire, but was never given the support he needed to learn to read. At one point he was put in a class with other children who struggled to learn to read and was given crayoning in to do all day – he was effectively written off by the education system. He felt so ashamed at this time that he even kept his secret from his parents and left school as he says, ‘without learning a thing’.

It was during the pandemic when Billy made the decision to learn to read and even though he had never used a tablet, and was very nervous, began to learn to read online with Helen his coach. All of Helen and Billy’s coaching sessions have taken place on Zoom and they like working this way as it is so convenient for them both. Billy describes Helen as a brilliant teacher and wishes someone like her was around all those years ago.

He is naturally proud of his achievement and receives lots of positive encouragement from his family and friends who are just as proud of him. Now when he goes to bible reading groups Billy takes part, fulfilling the promise he made to a friend, who passed away recently, knowing that Billy was proving to himself it is never too late to learn to read.

Read Easy Shropshire Hills