By Miranda Robertson

A charity which helps adults to read is holding an open evening on Friday, November 19 in Digby Hall, Hound Street.

Read Easy Blackmore Vale North is celebrating the publication of a book by one of their students – and many other success stories.

Read Easy member Lydia Everitt said: “Helping adults learn to read isn’t just about enabling them to enjoy a good book.  It is so much more. For many, learning to read better isn’t about books at all.

“It is about finding employment opportunities, supporting their families, even taking their first steps out of poverty.  It is about enabling parents (and grandparents) to read to their children and support their education.

“Everyday tasks such as paying household bills, using a cash point machine, reading the instructions on a medicine bottle and doing the weekly shop are no longer overwhelmingly challenging.

“What is very, very important is that learning to read hugely increases a person’s confidence and self-esteem.

“This means they can take a much more active part in their communities and society as a whole.”

Read Easy’s early beginnings started in Dorchester in 2010, and the national organisation was formally established in 2011.  Read Easy Blackmore Vale North was launched in 2014 in Gillingham and now ranges from Shaftesbury to Sherborne, Wincanton to Marnhull.

Since they started 19 people have graduated across two programmes and their ages have ranged from 20 plus to 80 plus. They make sure readers move at their own pace – no pressure.

Several have gone on to even more things like getting to grips with IT, writing an illustrated story book for her children, and one of the graduates, Sarah Todd, has written My Dyslexic Journey, published by Cloister House Press. At the moment the group has 23 readers.

To find out more go along to their open evening from 5.30pm till 7.30pm.

Alistair Sim, a book seller from Clevedon, will be talking about how he set up a book publishing business that prints existing books that are specifically accessible for people who are dyslexic. And there will be a chance to hear from existing volunteers and readers.