National Year of Reading 2008

To celebrate the National Year of Reading in Wales, which is coordinated by the Welsh Books Council, ten pupils from Ysgol Glan Y Môr in Pwllheli joined together to form the 08 Club – Dreigiau Coch.

The 08 Clubs were set up and launched earlier this year as part of the National Year of Reading in Wales. They are designed to attract children and young people – and especially teenage boys – to books and therefore to encourage reading.

The Welsh Books Council designed and activated a dedicated website where club members are able to create online profiles of their clubs, write regular blogs and up load videos of their activities and there is a competition every month for the best web page.

The Dreigiau Coch club has met a number of times and had fun discussing books and reading. They have updated their web page with photos, videos and information about the books they are reading and now their online page has been chosen as the winner for the 08 Clubs’ competition for the best page produced in October.

The group has won a fantastic prize of ten tickets to Glasfryn Park, Wales’s premier activity centre in Pwllheli, where they can take part in go-karting, quad biking, ten-pin bowling, fishing or archery.

Reading is made more fun by using well known people, in particular stars from the world of sport as reading role models. The clubs meet at a range of interesting, informal and stimulating locations and club leaders organise a variety of activities in order to inspire the youngsters to read more.

There are nearly 50 clubs throughout Wales and each club includes 10 members which will meet at least six times during the campaign.

Delyth Humphreys, National Year of Reading Co-ordinator at the Welsh Books Council commented, "This is a wonderful way to captivate the minds of young people and show them the joys and importance of reading. Reading is a fundamental skill which is essential in every day life."

"We hope the young people in the groups will be inspired to read more and enjoy their time at the clubs. It is a fantastic way of reaching out and including them in the National Year of Reading."

The Welsh Books Council is supplying each group with free books. The clubs receive different packages of books to cover all age groups involved and in both Welsh and English. Information packs and background materials have been provided to each club leader with excellent ideas and examples of the type of activities they can carry out in the reading clubs. Every member who attends all of the 6 meetings will have the opportunity to compete for some fantastic prizes.

Anyone can log on and find out what club members are up to, which books they are reading and which celebrities are supporting the campaign.

The National Year of Reading in Wales brings together people from all across Wales to share the joy of reading. A wide range of activities have already taken place as part of the year ranging from Give a Book Week, Reading Communities initiatives to the establishment of 50 book clubs for young people.