Read Easy Wyre Forest

According to a survey conducted in 2011 by Skills for Life, that:-

• 5% of adults aged 16-65 in England have the literacy skills at or below the level normally expected of a 5 year old. 
• another 2.1% have skills no better than those expected of a 7 year old 
• around 7000 – 8,000 adults living in the Wyre Forest area either don’t read at all or struggle with their reading.

These shocking figures were given to us by Steve Peckham, team leader of the newly formed Wyre Forest branch of Read Easy UK, when he recently spoke to Bewdley Rotary.

He stated that a KPMG report in 2009 estimated that around £10 billion a year is lost to the economy because employees have difficulty with literacy and numeracy skills and literacy problems cost the public purse anything up to £64,000 per individual over a lifetime.

Poor reading skills are associated with poverty - homelessness - crime - poor mental and physical health - isolation and depression - low self esteem and poor self confidence. Adults who struggle to read are 5 times more likely to be unemployed and 4 times more likely to experience long-term unemployment.

It didn't take the members long to agree that they should support the project and are now working with both Kidderminster and Stourport on Severn Rotary Clubs to gain a District Rotary Foundation Grant. In addition one of our members, Jim Crate, has started training to become a reading coach.