The Three Peaks Training Diary has been following the team’s progress and our next entry comes from Colin MacGregor, TRO volunteer and Managing Director of Alexander MacGregor, who are kindly sponsoring the minibus for the trip.

The Three Peaks Team has just seven weekends left to cram in some serious exercise before the challenge commences on June 30th. Ten days ago, as part of Sam’s carefully programmed training regime, the team conquered Snowdon –albeit at a leisurely pace. All agreed it was a doddle but next time we attempt the climb, on Sunday 1st July at about 1pm, it will be the third and final peak of the 24 hour challenge – and the clock will be ticking relentlessly towards the deadline. It’s just possible that tired legs might be a little less willing (or able) to carry us swiftly up and down the highest peak in Wales.

And so, as the ‘oldie’ on the team and determined to succeed in the mission, a bit of extra-curricular training seems like a good idea. I’ve made the odd foray into the Welsh hills over the past couple of months – in snow, rain and some unseasonably warm March sun. Last Sunday I returned to one of my favourite walks at Llantisilio Mountain, a few miles west of Llangollen. Unlike Snowdon though, I met just one other walker all morning! At just short of 600metres this is not a big climb, but the ridge walk is really rewarding with some beautiful views of the River Dee, The Clwydian range and (on a clear day) Snowdon. And believe it or not, with a nod to the forthcoming adventure, the walk includes three peaks. At the end of the morning’s exertion, a pint of foaming ale at The Sun in the village of Rhewl helped stave off any risk of dehydration – perfect.

So will I be ready for the 3 Peaks? I don’t know. My knees worry me. So for the next few weeks training will step up and Housman’s Reveille, from A Shropshire Lad (and yes I am a Shropshire lad!), will continue to get me out of bed – early:

Wake: the silver dusk returning
Up the beach of darkness brims,
And the ship of sunrise burning
Strands upon the eastern rims.

Wake: the vaulted shadow shatters,
Trampled to the floor it spanned,
And the tent of night in tatters
Straws the sky-pavilioned land.

Up, lad, up, ’tis late for lying:
Hear the drums of morning play;
Hark, the empty highways crying
‘Who’ll beyond the hills away?’

Towns and countries woo together,
Forelands beacon, belfries call;
Never lad that trod on leather
Lived to feast his heart with all.

Up, lad: thews that lie and cumber
Sunlit pallets never thrive;
Morns abed and daylight slumber
Were not meant for man alive.

Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover;
Breath’s a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad: when the journey’s over
There’ll be time enough to sleep.

Like everyone else on the team, I’m conscious that this is not just about the personal challenge of completing a gruelling 24 hours but more importantly about raising some serious money for The Reader Apprenticeship Programme. So for all our blog readers out there who haven’t yet sponsored the event – please support us now with a donation at http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/trothreepeaks.

Before I came to the groups I was housebound. I had no motivation, never spoke to no one, had no confidence; unhappy, basically. I was nervous when I first come [to the group] and didn’t know what to expect – I just thought, ‘what am I doing?!’ But when I went in, everyone greeted me and straight away I knew it was a friendly place so I relaxed a bit. When I first heard what we’d be doing [in the group] – reading – I thought, ‘is this for me?!’ then, once [the facilitator] began I started getting dead into it. The atmosphere and communicating with people – even the layout with the biscuits on the table and getting a drink – is good. It’s like being at home.

I was dreading reading, thought I’d run away, but [the facilitator] said that there was no pressure to read if you didn’t want to and then I felt ok. I never read, not once, when I first came, but then I did the training. I used to stutter my words – was dead edgy talking to people – but even my communication has improved. The other volunteers are lovely – lots of friendly faces when we meet up. To know them is, well, really nice. It’s an opportunity to make friends. The support [from Reader staff] has been great, too.

It’s given me the motivation to get out the house and do more stuff. It’s turned my life around. I’m a completely different person – sometimes I don’t recognise myself, I think, ‘Is this me?!’. It’s made me want to get out and get a life. It’s given me opportunities I’ve never had before. It’s given me the opportunity to do more with my life – I’ve had anxiety and depression and it’s helped me come out of that. You can express how you feel.  I’ve achieved something.  I used to feel like a nobody and now I feel like a somebody.  I’ve never been proud of myself before. I am now. I like feeling helpful.  It’s nice to be wanted – I’ve never had that before, I’ve never really been praised. I never used to take compliments; even if someone praised me I couldn’t take it, but now I’m learning to not take the negatives, not to worry what other people think, but just – y’know – see the positives. I used to not the like the world, not like people, but I do now.

I never liked poetry before and now I love it! It’s something I actually enjoy, I like reading something I can relate to. That one the other day (The More Loving One by WH Auden), that was just brilliant! When you leave [a group] it gives you a light, it lights up the rest of your day. I’d suggest this to every single person in the world – it’s fantastic! It changes your aspect – it’s amazing.

When asked whether there was anything more she would like to add, E said, ‘People should know just how friendly it is, it’s really important. Everyone is so welcoming.’

E has gone from strength to strength in her role; having recently been asked to share her experience of how GIR has changed her attitude to reading with a local MP, as well as expanding her current voluntary work with TRO. E has expressed a wish to go to college and one day work for TRO in a paid capacity, saying, ‘I’ve never known what I wanted to do before, but this is it.’

We couldn’t be more pleased to have her with us.

Here at TRO, we’re passionate about helping people like E overcome some of the challenges they face and transform their lives. That’s why our major fundraising campaign for 2012 is The Reader Apprenticeship Programme: Building Opportunities for Life. We’re aiming to raise £14,000 to employ a young care-leaver to work with us in Liverpool and take their first steps towards independence.

To find out how you can support this vital cause, please visit our website.

One of the official Olympic poets for 2012, Lemn is also associate artist at the Southbank Centre and was awarded an MBE in 2010. He recently became a patron of The Reader Organisation and will be appearing on the panel discussing ‘Literature and Children’s Wellbeing’ on Day One. As someone who spent 17 years growing up in the care system, Lemn is passionate about improving the lives of Looked After Children through initiatives such as our own Get Into Reading project.

He will also be appearing in conversation with TRO’s Jane Davis at Day Two of our conference, a day exclusively designed for those who have completed our Read to Lead training.

Here’s a preview of his thoughts:

What is the last book you read that moved you?

A Love Letter from a Stray Moon by Jay Griffiths

Why are you interested in what The Reader Organisation does?

The Reader Organisation releases the true life changing power of the intimate act of reading. 

To hear more from Lemn Sissay and our work with young people, book your place now for The Reader Organisation’s National Conference, 17th-18th May 2012, British Library, London. Visit our website to register and for more details about the programme.

Our first entry in the Three Peaks Training Diary comes from Eleanor Stanton, our Project Manager for Get Into Reading Liverpool.

I must admit that when the idea of doing the Three Peaks Challenge was first mooted at The Reader, I thought to myself, how hard can it be? It’ll be fine. Easy, even. It’ll be a laugh.

The team (including Eleanor, far right) pose mid-climb, with Niall helpfully pointing them in the right direction - upwards.

Having returned from my first training walk up The Old Man of Coniston, I feel it necessary to revise my initial musings on the subject and come clean. I’m not fit enough; not by a long shot. The sight of me panting and puffing up the side of a, frankly, average-sized hill was not a pretty one. I practically had to be pushed up the last third, to the sounds of my feeble wheezy protests: “I can’t do it, I just can’t do it”.

When I eventually reached the top of Coniston, to find everyone else on the team happily sunbathing and tucking in to their sandwiches, the dreadful reality finally hit me: this is going to be hard, terrifyingly hard. And, if I’m honest, it is all I can do to stop myself from shrieking with fear, dropping out of the team and leaving the gruelling task of climbing three mountains in 24 hours up to “the sporty ones”, i.e. not me.

Before the hell of Coniston the challenge was, to me, entirely a psychological one; mind over matter and all that stuff. People who whinged or complained or, worse, dropped out were sissies and babies and would be letting the team down. I had more mettle than that. Preparation was the key and the challenge would be comfortably within my reach.

I have certainly been taking the preparation seriously, if preparation means expensive and meticulous shopping. I have acquired a beautiful new pair of comfy walking boots with coordinating socks, a pretty purple rain jacket, a matching fleece and backpack, some walking poles and a water bag with a clip-on drinking spout. I’ve also been pretty good at planning: putting together a comprehensive and well-organised first aid kit, printing off walking guides for various potential training locations, talking about the Three Peaks Challenge, lots of talking.

I think that somewhere at the back of my mind I did know that it would be a good idea to do some proper training but, what can I say? Time has

What goes up, must come down...

slipped by, and now we are three months away from the big day and although I have lots of lovely shiny equipment, I’m still unfit. Did I mention that the challenge involves walking up and down three mountains in 24 hours? Mind over matter, mind over matter – seems lame now.

So, this is my training schedule for the next three months:

1. Running around my local park every other evening during the week. Last night I didn’t even make it round once before I felt as though I was having a heart attack, but at least I tried, right?
2. Zumba class once a week as the humiliation of being purple-faced by the second dance will definitely spur me on to get fitter.
3. Hilly walks every weekend. This weekend I am going to see how fast I can climb and descend Mam Tor in Derbyshire.

I am trying very hard to regain my initial enthusiasm for the upcoming challenge, but the dread of the task ahead and the fear of failing or letting the team down is pretty huge. What I am keeping in mind, though, is the fantastic cause we are raising money for and the fact that the money we raise will change someone’s life.

One sure way to spur me on, and all of my team mates for that matter, is to get sponsoring; to donate as much as you can afford and to help us reach our £14,000 target here. The idea of raising all that money certainly puts 24 hours of pain and misery into perspective.

Donate today! http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/trothreepeaks

With an impressive fundraising target of £14,000, we aim to raise enough money to employ one young person to work here with us at TRO HQ in Liverpool next year, specifically a young care-leaver between the ages of 16-22. Having done a great deal of work with Looked After Children in Merseyside over the past 4 years, we feel passionately about providing these young people with the means to build an independent and fulfilled life.

The apprenticeship will be a life changing experience, consisting of practical, community-based, creative work experience in a flexible programme that will accommodate complex needs and develop several core competencies:

• Social: Social Awareness and Social Skills
• Emotional Resilience: The ability to cope with rebuffs which may be short-term or shocks which consume long periods of time
• Enterprise & Creativity: The ability to shape situations, imagine alternatives, remain open to new ideas, problem-solve and work in teams
• Discipline: Inner discipline to pursue goals and the ability to cope with external discipline

 No formal qualifications will be required to enter the programme; we want to support individuals with a spark, or a desire to make something of their lives, or with passion to learn or to change.

The apprenticeship will also provide financial support; Looked After Children are statistically the most underprivileged in our society, and here at TRO we aim to offer a wage that will help turn their lives around. We will offer an hourly starting wage of £6.32, which is well above the apprentice national minimum wage of £2.60 (£4,732 per year). There are 985 Looked After Children living in Merseyside, vulnerable young people who face huge emotional, educational and financial  pressures when they turn 16 and we are determined to support them in a life changing way. Paying a young apprentice who has recently left care £4,732 per year will not give them the financial support to live independently or to significantly improve their quality of life. This is why we want to raise the money ourselves, so that we can pay these young people a living wage that will give them the opportunity to overcome some of the many challenges that they face. 

So, how will we do it? Let me hand you over to our wonderful Mr Niall Gibney, who will unveil some of our fundraising plans….

Hello, I’m Niall. I’m the Community Development Assistant here and first apprentice here at The Reader Organisation. As it stands, I’m one and a half years into my apprenticeship and I’ve already undergone a wide variety of tasks during my time here! However, this year I’ve been given the ultimate task of them all – to be the driving force behind our organisation’s effort to raise £14,000 via the use of community fundraising! Sounds like a biggie? Well, it is! If I can put this into perspective, last year, our whole organisation raised £3,000 via this type of fundraising, so this year’s £14,000 target is a whopping increase! As you can imagine a lot of hard work will be put in by TRO staff and we have already started fundraising with things such as: a collection in Liverpool University on World Book Day, a Valentines event at The Lauries, a cake sale, Amazon fundraising, an Easter egg raffle, a raffle at the Bebington Library Dickens Celebration, and these are all leading up to our MAMMOTH Three Peaks fundraiser….But I’ll leave Eleanor to tell you more about that in the next blog.

So there you have it, that is what we hope to do over the next 12 months and as I believe in this vital cause you will most likely be hearing much more from me…

Visit our website to find out more about how you can donate and keep checking the blog to find out about how you can help with our first major fundraiser – the Three Peaks Challenge!

Orlando Orange and the Big Scary Bear was an exciting story. The story was about a bear and an onion and an orange. Orlando went into the forest even though he was scared and he got the ball back.

I liked it all. There was nothing I didn’t like. I liked Ozzy Onion best because he was really funny when he kicked the ball. The pictures were really nice. I like the stickers best of all.

I would like to read Charlie Chilli next.

By Cameron, aged 6.

I like Stardust because it’s like reading about two different worlds. The village of Wall is in one world, the human world, and it lies near a stone wall that is the border with another world, the magical kingdom of Stormhold.

The main character is called Tristan, his dad went over the wall when he shouldn’t have done, and he fell in love with a woman who was a slave to a witch. The woman was the daughter of the King of Stormhold. When the King of Stormhold died, all of his sons had to compete to be the last man standing to be the new King.

The story is about what happens when Tristan goes over the wall, and how he faces true love

I liked reading this story because the language and the story was old fashioned and it was magical as well, it had heart eating witches and stars, and you will find out when you read it!

After I had read the book I watched the film, I would recommend watching the film because it’s a really good version of the book.

Stardust, Neil Gaiman, Harper Collins (1998/2006)

Get the low-down on St Patrick’s Day and get the giggles at our very own Patrick Fisher’s party jokes, enjoy a Recommended Read from one of our young readers and find out fun facts about National Peanut Day (yes, it is a real day!).

There’s loads to enjoy so scroll down, click ‘full screen’ and get reading!

Imagine having a sister but she is more like your best friend, you go everywhere with her and you do everything together and when things are getting you down she’ll always be there for you!! Well these two sisters Jodie and Pearl are just like that. They move to a private a school because the parents aren’t happy with their level of education that they are receiving at the public school so they decide to accept their new jobs at Melchester Private school, and they move away to begin their new lives, with their dad as the care taker and their mum as the new head cook of the school. But with the girls finding it particularly difficult to settle in especially Jodie who goes even more wilder and starts acting up at school, they’re starting to regret moving.

Pearl has always been the quiet one who sits in the corner and reads books and has hardly any friends and Jodie has always been the wackier and wilder one who hangs out with her friends till all hours of the morning. But with these sisters it doesn’t matter what their personalities are like they always have time each other. But things are different at Melchester, Pearl makes a whole ton of friends and poor Jodie just hangs round by herself and is taunted by all the ‘posh’ kids, this is since coming to Melchester.

At Melchester they meet a teacher called Mrs Wilberforce who is wheelchair-bound, after falling down the stairs of her tower she broke her neck and is paralysed from the waist down. Mrs Wilberforce has a special place in her heart for Pearl and tells her what had happened for her to be in a wheelchair and warns Pearl never to go up to the tower. Pearl of course tells her sister everything and tells Jodie what had happened to Mrs Wilberforce. Jodie who doesn’t listen to what ever is said, even if it’s for her own safety, she finds a way of nabbing off with her dad’s bunch of keys and gets into the tower. Everything seems to be fine, nothing serious, so Jodie continued to wander off to the tower every evening.

Tragedy strikes, when there is a fireworks display to mark bonfire night. Jodie asks her dad what time the fireworks are due to be let off and then she disappears. Assuming she would be back in time for the display, Pearl doesn’t worry about her. But during the display just after 7:30 Jodie is in the window of the tower and can be seen by everyone on the ground. She’s dressed up as a ghost and scares all the ‘littlies’. She then sees that they are genuinely scared of this ‘ghost’ and start running around in a mad panic, she tries to convince them that the ghost is really her and she leans out of the window a bit too much and loses her balance on her really high red heeled shoes and topples out of the window and lands with a thud on the ground; she died.  The parents and Pearl decide to move away to make a brand new start (especially with the new baby on the way) after the funeral.

Once May was born Pearl writes her a story telling her all about Jodie and what kind of person she was like. She says to her new baby sister “I’ll never ever be such a great sister as Jodie. She’s your sister too, May, and she always will be.” Pearl looks after her sister the way Jodie looked after her.

I would recommend this book for the age 12-15. It’s such a good book but with sadness of some parts of it I don’t think it would be right for a younger age. It had a range of different emotions and it explores the way sisters and families pull together through such hard times.

This was my first book that I have read since starting at The Reader Organisation by myself, as I didn’t really read that much. That bit sounds a bit childish but reading hasn’t always been my strong point but now it’s making its way back into my life and I’m really getting in to reading and starting to love reading.

My Sister Jodie, Jacqueline Wilson, Corgi (2009)

Part of my job at The Reader Organisation involves running one-to-one reading sessions with children and young people. In these sessions we read a variety of novels and poetry, old and new. My chosen featured poem is William Wordsworth’s Composed Upon Westminster Bridge.

Wordsworth is one of my favourite poets, and although his poems were written ‘in the olden days’ as the children I read with say, they are very accessible, and young people are always amazed at how relevant they can be to their lives now.

When reading this poem recently with a teenager we had lots of discussion about London, what it would be like to live in a city so big and bustling after a childhood in the countryside, and how difficult or easy it would be to adapt to it. The young person I was reading with particularly liked the line ‘The beauty of the morning: silent, bare’, saying that she liked being up early in the morning before anyone else in the house to look out of her window at the start of the day. She was surprised that someone else (Wordsworth) felt the calmness that she feels at this time of the day.

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

William Wordsworth