By Rebecca Carter, Recruitment and Marketing Executive for Beanstalk East Midlands

It’s been a busy end of 2016 for everyone at Beanstalk East Midlands, but we really wanted to share with you one bit of good news from recent weeks.

One of our local reading helpers – Ian Dickens – is a descendant of a certain Mr Charles Dickens, and he was recently invited by the school he volunteers in to talk about his famous ancestor at their recent Charles Dickens’ Day.

Ian, who began volunteering with us earlier this year, spoke to three separate age groups with an illustrated chat about Charles Dickens and his life (dressed in top hat, tails, colourful waistcoat, flamboyant bow tie), followed by a reading of A Christmas Carol. Afterwards, the entire school watched the Muppets Christmas Carol so are now probably the best versed pupils on all things Dickens! 

We really are lucky to have so many great volunteers in the Bedford area, who really help to bring stories to life and make them fun for children who otherwise struggle with their reading ability and confidence…after all, to quote from A Christmas Carol, “there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”

If you'd like to become a Beanstalk reading helper then please get in touch - it’s really easy to get involved!