Exeter City fan and volunteer for the Read Easy charity, Peter Nickol, has offered support to fellow City fans who may be struggling with reading.
Peter was prompted to make the offer to the club following the recent ‘Read Aloud’, which saw a specially commissioned poem, by club poet Rob Casey, read aloud by fans in the Stagecoach Adam Stansfield Stand ahead of the recent match against Forest Green Rovers.
The Read Aloud was organised in collaboration with Radio 5 Live as part of its literacy campaign and featured on the station’s breakfast show in September. It is estimated that more than nine million adults in the UK struggle to do things like completing forms, writing birthday cards or reading bedtime stories.
Read Easy is a national charity which provides free and confidential one-to-one reading coaching for adults from trained volunteers, through locally-run affiliated volunteer groups.
Peter, who has trained as a Read Easy coach, said: “When I saw that the club had taken part in this, I was keen to offer the services of Read Easy. There is a hidden part of society who struggle with reading and writing and through the work of the charity we really can change people’s lives. If anyone is struggling with reading, then I’d be really happy for them to contact me in confidence, and I can tell them more about the work of the charity.”
Nick Hawker, chair of Exeter City Supporters’ Trust, said: “As a supporter-owned club at the heart of the community, these kinds of activities are very important to us. We were delighted to take part in Radio 5 Live’s campaign and equally pleased to support the Read Easy charity. I would urge anyone who has concerns to get in contact with them.”
For more information about Read Easy, please contact Peter Nickol on pnickol@phonecoop.coop