Literacy Lessons in Pubs – Because Reading Matters

09 Apr Literacy Lessons in Pubs – Because Reading Matters

Sometimes as a jobbing radio journalist you don’t always fully appreciate the full significance of the reports you make at the time.

This one for Radio 4’s You & Yours – about literacy lessons being taught in a Staffordshire pub – was one such report.

Looking back, it addressed a massive issue.

Y’see, I owe everything to books. Books fed my imagination, fired my intrigue, and provided huge dollops of inspiration for the career I would eventually have.

I was lucky. My mum read endlessly to me and was froma family schooled deep in language. I eagerly devoured comics and books. Reading offered respite from reality and the freedom to think.

But it’s not the same for every child. Some, for no fault of their own, fail to grow up able to read and write easily, if at all. Learning these skills later in life matters. It also takes courage, firstly to ‘fess up, then do something about it.

That’s why I have no respect whatsoever for plummy former public schoolboys who scoff at working class achievers like Keir Starmer for daring to mention his dad hjad been a toolmaker.

So was mine. Born into poverty, his dad (my beloved grandad) had been raised in an orphanage, had emigrated to Canada in his teens only to swiftly return to Europe for WW1 in which was gassed, shot and left for dead for three days at the Battle of the Somme before returning to Blighty only to find England wasn’t much of a land fit for heroes.

Just like literacy, ensuring his son got an apprenticeship and a skilled trade offered the potential of a job for life.

This stuff matters. Without their sacrifices and tactile attainment, my dad wouldn’t have raised a family and be able to ultimately offer scope for the sort of social mobility I was able to benefit from.  I, too, took an motor industry apprenticeship before switching careers after going to university as a mature student. But this was only achievable because I loved reading and writing so always had a turn of phrase and gift of the gab. It just took me a long time to realise it might also earn me a living.

So, yes, literacy matters. It changes lives. Never underestimate its power.

Oh, and I hope you enjoy this short feature – https://tinyurl.com/bdd2pyuh