Our story

Coram Beanstalk was founded by our President Susan Belgrave in 1973. We were originally called Volunteer Reading Help (VRH) before becoming Beanstalk in 2012 in time for our 40th anniversary. In February 2019 we were welcomed to the Coram group of charities and became Coram Beanstalk.

Susan saw a volunteering scheme in action in a Harlem school in New York. Impressed by the results she decided to set up a similar scheme in schools in North Kensington.  

Since then, Coram Beanstalk has gone from strength-to-strength. We have grown from a handful of volunteers to a network of trained reading helpers supporting approximately 10,000 children across England. Since we were founded we have helped over 200,000 children learn to read.


Thanks to our volunteers, Coram Beanstalk is now a respected voice in the children's literacy landscape and is a leading member of campaigns to improve literacy across the UK and Europe.

Here are some of the key moments in our 40+ year history:


        
If you would like to find out how we're adding to our history, then please check out our news section.