Jay Blades Joins Forces with Literacy Charity to Inspire Adults to Learn to Read

I am a fan of the hit BBC TV programme The Repair Shop. And Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades will be participating in a new BBC documentary which will follow his journey as he faces up to the challenge of learning to read as an adult with charity Read Easy UK.

As Jay Blades is such an erudite presenter and is a highly skilled furniture restorer, it's a surprise to discover that Jay came to reading very late in life.

In fact Jay concealed his lack of reading skills until he was in his 30s, after he struggled to learn to read as a child. 

It's an unfortunate truth that Jay isn't alone. Because a staggering quarter of all children in England leave primary school like Jay, unable to read  as well as they should.

Almost seven million adults in the UK have very poor literacy skills. And many of them are too embarrassed to come forward to ask for help.

An inability to read properly has an adverse impact on all aspects of daily life. For example, reading signs, checking bills, reading urgent letters, registering to vote, voting itself or even being able to grasp health information. It also makes it hard to support their own children’s learning.

In the programme Jay meets other people who are on the same journey with Read Easy. Viewers will meet Jacky Smith who began learning to read in her 60s. Why? The main driving force was her desire to read with her 7-year-old granddaughter and to help her sister who has become partially sighted.

Jay also meets Jeff George, who at age 32, said: "The most important thing for me is to be able to read stories to my son who has just started school. That’s my goal. I’d also like to be able to understand more at work, and have other options career-wise for the future. Reading will open those doors for me. If I have a chance of something better I’m going to take it”.

Read Easy UK has 50 affiliated groups around the UK with over 1,100 volunteers providing free one-to-one reading coaching for adults who are unable to read. Readers meet volunteer coaches twice weekly to follow ‘Turning Pages’ an adult reading programme originally developed to help prisoners to learn to read..

Says Ginny Williams-Ellis, CEO of Read Easy UK, “Research shows 2.4m adults in England can’t read at all, or can barely read. Not being able to read as an adult is excruciatingly embarrassing for most adults."

She went on to say: "It generally follows years of humiliation at school, when failure to learn to read in the early years will have brought about a lack of ability to take part in the rest of the curriculum as they got older.

“For the vast majority this wasn't their choice, or their fault. It was nothing to do with their intelligence. There are many different reasons why a child might not learn to read in their first years at school. 

"For some, undiagnosed or unsupported dyslexia, or unidentified sight or hearing problems, may have stopped them from learning. Others lacked learning support from parents or carers, or problems at home may make it difficult to concentrate at school.

“Phonics wasn't taught in most schools for many years from the 1960s and consequently many children did not learn the crucial decoding skills needed to make sense of text. It is arguable this had an impact on literacy levels in the UK generally, but it was a particular problem for those who already faced other challenges. So, however difficult it may be, nobody should feel embarrassed to admit that they didn’t get the skills they needed when they were children.

“I would urge any adult who is unable to read properly to have the courage to come forward, like Jay, and ask for help. It really is never too late to learn.”

To find out more about learning to read as an adult with Read Easy visit www.readeasy.org.uk

Had my mother not stepped in and taught me to read and write I believe that my literacy levels would be much lower than they are. My teacher, who, it transpired, didn't even have a teaching qualification(!) couldn't cope with my dyslexia. 

Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 will broadcast on Wednesday 26th January at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Incidentally there are a whole tranche of adults in their 50s and 60s who were initially taught to read and write with the Initial Teaching Alphabet, which proved to be an utter disaster as the plan was for children to have to forget the ITA that they had learned and then to re-learn to read and write using standard English. Many grew up to have severe literacy problems which still negatively impacts on their lives as adults to this day.

You can learn more about the Initial Teaching Alphabet debacle here:-

https://theliteracyblog.com/2015/05/14/i-t-a-a-great-idea-but-a-dismal-failure/

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/ita-initial-teaching-alphabet-anyone-else-a-victim.94314/

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1371807-McNee-Coleman-Great-Reading-Disaster-was-look-say-introduced-to-damage-childrens-reading

Logistics: A Christmas Story

Logistics: A Christmas Story is a new novel from published author Chris Coppel.

Holly Hillman was abandoned at the age of two and a half. She was then raised in an austere fashion. She was kept well away from anything whimsical or fanciful.

Not for Holly were things that other children of her age took for granted. Elves, fairies and Father Christmas meant nothing to her. Because she was taught that such things had no existence. 

Harmless fancies that helped children cope with the harsh realities of life were kept from her.

By the time Holly was in her forties, she was the Chief Executive Officer of a Fortune 400 company. She had reached the top of the company by dint of her own hard work. And also by keeping distractions and social attachments out of her life.

But, despite living a life that others would find unattractive and limiting, Holly was perfectly happy in the life that she had selected for herself. In fact, as far as Holly was concerned, her life was perfect and she wouldn't have it any other way.

However, her company was due to merge with a powerful Asian conglomerate and, as part of the due diligence process that always surrounds such mergers, she was required to have a health check, which also required a DNA sample to be taken. But what exactly was the Ling Chow Group up to? 

However, never in her wildest dreams could Holly have been ready for the results of her DNA test. For the DNA test revealed the shocking truth of her amazing and unique ancestry. 

Holly must face a stunning truth about herself that must change not only how she views herself but also life in general and alter her concept of what reality is.

She finds herself in a world of talking reindeers, elves in business suits and of mysterious NDAs and the chance to meet her real father. 

It's a fantastic and fantastical story that is very well told and which contains a great many allegorical truths about life, childhood, business practices, politics and much more besides.

It's published by Troubador on January 28th at £9.99.

Peaky Blinders The Real Story

In his book Peaky Blinders The Real Story historian Professor Carl Chinn MBE tells the real story of The infamous Peaky Blinders gang that were active in Birmingham.

Far from the romanticised version portrayed in the popular television series, the members of the gang were not very nice people. And Professor Chinn should know. On of his ancestors was a member of the notorious gang.

And Professor Chinn should know. His great-grandfather, Edward Derrick, was a member of the gang.

He married Carl's great-grandmother, Ada Weldon. Her married life was extremely unhappy, because Derrick was and abusive, drunken bully who would often smash the house up when he was drunk. On a number of occasions his wife and child would need to seek refuge in the communal brewhouse (the washhouse)  or in the house of Lil's Granny Carey.

She was known as Old Mother Carey and she was a much loved inhabitant of Studley Street. Why wouldn't Derrick pursue his wife and child into Old Mother Carey's house? Like many thuggish bullies Derrick was a coward at heart and was fearful of her several powerful sons.

After putting up with years of his abusive and violent behaviour she took the unusual, for that time, step of divorcing him, using the "Poor Person" under the Supreme Court rules.

Ada died in 1925 aged 39 of stomach cancer, whilst Derrick lived until 1964, in the Midlands town of Nuneaton.

Carl states in his book that he has nothing but contempt for his Peaky Blinders ancestor, who he described as "wife-beater, thief, wastrel and violent ruffian., he was typical of the Peaky Blinders."

He further points out that, unlike the glamorised Peaky Blinders depicted in the television series, they were not dressed in fashionable clothing, they did not "have a certain charm" nor did they "have a certain sense of honour" and the working class of Birmingham had no respect for them and, in fact, they were "mightily relieved" when the Birmingham Police ended their reign of terror, under the direction of the then Chief Constable Charles Haughton Rafter.

Carl then goes on the point out that after the real Paky Blinders were put down, some of the members created the violent and formidable Birmingham Gang which was headed by the real Billy Kimber. 

In 1921 the gang fought a violent, bloody battle against an alliance of London gangs, led by the real life Darby Sabini. The real Alfie Solomon was also involved. They were fighting for control of protection rackets and pickpocketing groups on the racecourses of southern England. 

Interestingly Carl points out that there were no fights in Birmingham, the fights took place in southern England.

He points out that some of the Peaky Blinders gang fought in the First World War and those that returned to their home city were more law-abiding.

Carl tells the pre-history of the Peaky Blinders, of the street gangs that preceded them, the Sloggers of the 1870s, whose name derived from the 1820s bare-knuckled fights and was a term describing a person who could deliver a powerful blow.

He also reveals the story that the Peaky Blinders name was bestowed upon them because it was rumoured that they had disposable razor blades sewn in the peaks of their caps and that in a fight, they would remove their cap and slash their opponent in the face, thus trying to blind them.

The book is a detailed and highly readable account of the real story of this infamous street gang and is very well illustrated with a number of archive photographs.

There are also interviews with people who actually witnessed the events and the book has a comprehensive endnotes section.  

Incidentally, Carl Chinn's family were involved in illegal bookmaking and later legal bookmaking and I should point out that my cousin on my father's side, Ted Rogers, was also a bookmaking contemporary of the Chinn family in Birmingham. It's a small world!

The book is published by John Blake Books at £8.99 in paperback. 

Let's Kill all the Lawyers

In Let's Kill all the Lawyers Author, GP and ethicist Tim Howard introduces us to the story of how, despite the fact that Doctor Nick Malenkov has done his very best for his patient, "the bastard" as he describes him, has issued him with a High Court Writ over his medical treatment of him.

Obviously, Nick will need legal representation and he appoints a solicitor, Antonia Grey, to fight his corner.

Antonia is a very capable solicitor but she is not free of baggage: Her marriage is tottering along and she is beset with personal problems. 

Add to the mix Brooks, a very capable Barrister, who will face the High Court on the behalf of the defence and the defence team is complete./

But as the case gets to the High court Nick learns that the law and justice may not always be the same thing. That sometimes it is better, at least in court, to be clever rather than right.

And will a mistake that Antonia made scupper the chances of Nick to receive justice? Or were there other machinations that the defence could not be aware of?

The case is lost, but due to the fact that the judge was demonstrably biased and the fact that a vital piece of evidence is discovered, Nick's legal team is able to lodge an appeal.

Would the appeal court bring justice for the Doctor? And if it did... what might happen next?

It's a very well written and pacey novel.

It is published by Brown Dog Books at £9.99.

Seadogs and Criminals Book 1

Seadogs ands Criminals Book 1 is a novel by Alex Fisher.

The novel is set in Victorian England and the reader meets Joseph Winter who is a master criminal. In the teeming streets of London he is, with some irony, known by the sobriquet of Trace. Why? Because he never leaves a trace behind him.

But eventually things go very badly wrong for Trace, his reputation is smashed to pieces and his dreams of success smashed to nothing when a tip about a fabled treasure map fails to materialise. 

What can he do next? He decides to form a group of strangers who will be invited to join him in the hunt for the treasure in question. 

They take to the high seas and soon find themselves travelling to the ends of the Earth in a journey to unearth the vital clues as to the final resting place of the fabled treasure.

But eventually Trace begins to harbour doubts. Is this hunt worthwhile? What is he doing? Who can he trust?

It's a swashbuckling historical novel which will be a good read for people who like a tang of sea air in their fiction.

Published by Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd at £11.11 from Amazon or as an e-book for £2.84. 

A New Dark Age A Reckoning

A New Dark Age A Reckoning is a new novel from Ross Patrick.

It's set in the future. But not a distant, far away future, but a future that could be just around the next corner.

Society had began its long, slow collapse, crumbling around the people. 

Scarcity became more and more common and when most people could not afford to buy consumer goods, they began to riot. 

The ruling class was perturbed by the rioters and accused them of being antidemocratic.

Militarised armed police were sent out to deal with the riots.

However, with rising levels of unemployment tax revenues inevitably began to fall and larger corporations began to take over the direct funding of the police and the police became the armed wing of the corporations. This brought about battles between different business interests, all set about a background of a society in turmoil with falling standards of living and the very State tottering toward disaster.

Out in the provinces readers meet Esme Sedgebrook. Her future is mapped out for her. An arranged marriage, childbearing and a nice, safe domestic life. 

But what if this is not the life she opts for? What if Esme decides to flee her safe, comfortable life and join up with the uprising?

It's an interesting, dystopian novel.

Published by Brown Dog Books at £9.99 and is available from good book retailers and online.

The Crystal Palace Chronicles Star of Nimrod

The Crystal Palace Chronicles Star of Nimrod is a novel from Graham Whitlock.

From the very first page, readers will be hooked. Everyone knows that the Crystal Palace burnt to the ground on November 30, 1936. But who knew why it burnt down? The Alone Child, with his hidden box of used matches. The Alone Child knows.

85 years later, young Joe is bored and a bit lonely. His best friend has moved away, Joe loves his little sister, but she's annoying and Joe is a bit miffed that he is lumbered with the job of looking after her, whilst his Dad spends every hour that he can attempting to keep their struggling restaurant, Paradise, open.

Joe finds a broken compass in some bushes on the site where the Crystal Palace once stood. Without warning Joe finds himself plunged back through time to the year of 1888.

He meets a fellow teenager, H. G. Wells who gives him assistance along with Samuel Coleridge Taylor, the famed Iris Blondin, the daredevil daughter of the legendary tightrope walker, Charles Blondin, plus Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the Queen of the Gypsies.

Joe learns of a plot by a team of highly skilled and equally highly dangerous diamond thieves to steal a very famous diamond and with his new found friends he must work to thwart the gang and to learn of some mysterious and dark secrets of the Crystal Palace. He discovers that those secrets are, somehow, linked with the fate of his own family.

But what will happen to young Joe? Will he remain trapped in time with his new found friends? Or will he be able to find a way of returning to his own time and to his own family? Or would he be able to work out how he could retain both?

This is a very readable novel which has pace and a little bit of elan as it tells the story of Joe and his adventures.

It's published by Grass Roots Productions and is available at Waterstones, Amazon and other book retailers.

Although aimed at children of ages 11 to 13, older readers and adults will find much to captivate their minds.

It costs £8.99 and will make a superb Christmas present.

And the good news? It's the first part of a trilogy, so there's more to look forward to!

Graham has his own website at www.grahamwhitlock.com.