A charity which has already given away more than 25,000 books is bringing its mission to Newcastle, offering free reading material to people using the city’s food banks.
Bookbanks will launch its Newcastle service on Thursday, November 5, at Newcastle Foodbank’s Venerable Bede Church site in the West End.
The charity sets up pop-up book stalls inside food banks, offering everything from children’s stories and cookbooks to poetry and classics, with trained volunteers helping visitors find something they’ll enjoy.
Working alongside local organisation Borderline Books, Bookbanks hopes to expand the existing provision with a wider selection of titles, author events, writing workshops and links to local libraries.
North East-born author and presenter Vick Hope, who supports the charity, welcomed its arrival.
“Books can inspire confidence, spark curiosity and help people dream big, whatever their own story. As someone who’s incredibly proud to be from the North East, it’s brilliant to see Bookbanks coming to the region, giving people using food banks access to free books.
“Everyone deserves the chance to fall in love with reading, and I know from my own experience just how life-changing that can be.”
Bookbanks currently distributes an average of 50 books a week at each location, with around half going to children.
The Newcastle launch is part of a wider expansion which will see the charity working with 13 food banks nationwide, with ambitions to reach 30 by 2030.
It is now recruiting local volunteers with a background in books to help run the weekly sessions. A volunteer sign up form can be found here.
Founding director Emily Rhodes said: “If you have a background in books, and a passion for widening access to them, we would love to hear from you!”
Bookbanks Newcastle will operate every Thursday from 10am to noon at the Venerable Bede Church, NE4 8AQ. More information is available at bookbanks.co.uk.