A drive to encourage people to read on public transport on Merseyside is being launched on Friday, 19 June.
‘Moved to Read’ is a partnership between Liverpool City Council, Merseytravel and Liverpool City of Readers.
It will see books placed on Mersey Ferries, Merseyrail trains, buses and in taxis over the summer to get commuters using their travel time as quality reading time.
Details will be unveiled as part of a special Adult Learning event at the Museum of Liverpool on Friday 19 June – organised by the TUC’s unionlearn scheme and Merseylearn, which is Merseytravel’s workplace learning scheme.
Councillor Lana Orr, Mayoral lead for reading, said: “Getting into the habit of reading when travelling to and from work is not just a great way to relax and learn, but is also helps the time pass more quickly!
“This is all part of our drive to get more people reading for pleasure and make Liverpool the foremost reading city in the UK.”
A total of 3,000 books have been purchased from the ‘Quick Reads’ collection, which uses big name authors to write short books that are specifically designed to be easy to read.
The books are:
• Dead Man Talking by Roddy Doyle
• Red for Revenge by Fanny Blake
• Out of the Dark by Adele Geras
• Pictures Or It Didn’t Happen by Sophie Hannah
• Paris for One by Jojo Moyes
• Street Cat Bob by James Bowen
Councillor Liam Robinson, Chair of Merseytravel said: “Many people relish the chance to read whilst travelling around the transport network, especially on their regular commute to and from work.
“Even a short 10 to 15 minute journey can give you chance to switch off and enjoy a good book.
“The campaign aims to encourage more people to recognise this and get involved.”
Dr Jane Davis, Director of City of Readers, said: “Reading simply for enjoyment is so important to a community’s development and a wonderful activity to share with others.
We need everyone in Liverpool to act as role models; reading at home, reading in schools, in the community – and on transport!
“We’re so pleased to be working with Merseytravel in order to offer more people the chance to engage with reading publicly. Together we really can make Liverpool a City of Readers.”
The Adult Learning event from 10am – 4pm will showcase up to 40 different providers and courses and is open to anyone.
There is the opportunity to sign up to become a Reading Champion with City of Readers, learn about the internet, healthy foods and cooking, arts and crafts and much more.
And 20 ‘Digital Champions’ who have helped people get online through the TUC’s ‘Digital Hubs’ will also be presented with certificates to recognise their work.
Laura Robertson-Collins, Senior Union Support Officer at unionlearn, said: “We are pleased to be working in partnership with other organisations across Merseyside to promote learning, and to come together to celebrate the achievements of learners.”
