The Great Big Read, an event created to excite children about reading and to raise money and awareness for a free book library for parents, was hosted by all six Tops Day Nurseries in Plymouth recently.
Invitations were sent out to encourage volunteers to head down to the nurseries to take part and Plymouth Councillors Susan McDonald, Kate Taylor, Bill Stevens and Jemima Laing visited Tops Day Nurseries in Stonehouse and Devonport to take part and read story books with the children.
With the support of Independent Usborne Organiser Vanessa Marsh from Pop-Up Bookshop, Tops Day Nurseries took part in the Great Big Read in order to raise awareness of the importance of reading, provide opportunities for their children to read and be read to and to raise funds for their book lending library. Tops Day Nurseries created their lending library to allow parents and children access to books and other reading materials that they may not have previously been able to access.
Plymouth councillors Kate Taylor, Jemima Laing and Bill Stevens visited Tops Devonport whilst Susan McDonald visited the pre-school children at Tops Stonehouse.
After hosting the events Tops have managed to transform their lending library service with an incredible number of free books being given by Usborne Books at Home, a division of Usborne Publishing, in addition to all of the sponsorship money raised to purchase books. On top of the individually sponsored element, Vanessa Marsh coordinated a giant Community Book Pledge securing further sponsorship from businesses including school and nursery suppliers.
Cllr Bill Stevens kindly contributed £200 towards the scheme, he said “I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, and was impressed to see a dedicated hardworking team helping tomorrow’s adults get the best possible start in life. The children were engaged, well behaved and I had a great time reading a couple of stories with them. The nursery is a fabulous part of our community.
I’m very happy to contribute from my Community Grant to purchase more books for the nursery. I was so impressed with the children’s passion for books and we all know reading skills are one of the building blocks of life.”
Cllr Kate Taylor said ““Growing up, reading was my way of escaping from the challenges I faced as a child and it gives people the opportunity to enter a whole new world without leaving the room. It’s so important that children are encouraged to read and enjoy stories from a young age and the Great Big Read is a brilliant initiative which does just that. The commitment of those at Tops Devonport to broadening the children’s horizons is clear and it was a pleasure to spend some time with them!”
Tops Day Nurseries offers care for children from 3 months – school age, as well as having an afterschool and holiday club for children up to the age of 8. Parents can benefit from extended opening hours of 6am-8pm subject to demand, for, 52 weeks a year including Bank Holidays. This is as well as the number of extra-curricular activities such as Forest School, which extend the experiences children have whilst at nursery. For more information, please call 0801 699650 or email enquiries@topsdaynurseries.co.uk
Providing happy, nurturing childcare for the hours you need, across over 30 nursery settings in: Babbacombe, Plymouth, Bournemouth, Charminster, Copnor, Fawley, Gillingham, Corfe Mullen, Havant, Lakeside, Lymington, Taunton, Newport, Poole, Portsmouth, Salisbury,
Southsea, Wareham, Wimborne, Winchester, and Yeovil.
