Patron of Reading Conference 2016

Last weekend, the third Patron of Reading conference took place at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manchester. It was on a whole different level from the previous two that we'd organised. We even had sponsors (thank you MLS for all your support!) and a working sound system, which was a huge step in the right direction.

The line-up for the day was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Speakers included authors The Two Steves, John Dougherty, Joffre White and SF Said; Miranda McKearney, OBE. from Empathy Lab; Marilyn Brocklehurst from Norfolk Children's Book Centre; Rob Smith, creator of the Literacy Shed; storyteller Marjorie Leithead and performance poet Tony Walsh. We also had wonderful contributions from librarians Mandy Wilson and Gill Ward; teacher John Bentham; organiser of the Haringey Chapter, Ian Coles from the Big Green Bookshop and Chris Lunt from MLS. The day was ably (??) compered by Patron of Reading founder, headteacher Tim Redgrave.

To find out more about the day, have a read of:

• the Haringey Chapter's Report
• Dom Conlon's report
• Bev Humphrey's storify 

You can find a summary of the day's events by using the Twitter hashtag #PoRConf16. Also, here's the link to the MLS Reading for Pleasure video and the link to a video created by author Marcus Alexander. Marcus was supposed to be presenting on the day, but unfortunately he recently broke both his biceps on a piece of gymnastics equipment!

I'm delighted, and very proud, to be involved in such a great scheme. After talking to several authors, teachers and librarians on the day, it's clear that it's having a real impact on reading in schools across the UK. I believe that Tim is already making plans for #PoRConf17...

 

 Hopefully Brenda enjoyed herself as much as we did!