Looking for books in Medway
The man organising free book hunts for children in our towns. Plus former Strood Wilko store rumbles back to life, a review of Third Wave Coffee, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more
The importance of reading for children can’t be overstated, but at a time when families are struggling, getting hold of books isn’t always that easy. Paul White has been organising free book hunts across our towns, leaving books in parks and spaces across Medway for children to find. It’s a remarkable project, so we’ve been finding out more. Further down, we have a review of the new Third Wave Coffee in Rochester, our weekly events guide, news in brief, and more.
Looking for books in Medway
Paul White is on a mission.
The children’s bookseller, spurred on by some frankly depressing statistics about literacy, decided to try and give away 52 books every single week for the year.
Not just given away either. Hidden around local communities and turned into book-hunting events across the Medway towns.
It hasn’t been quite as smooth sailing as he might have liked, but it’s clear that he is having an impact. The Medway Look For A Book Facebook group is full of pictures posted by happy parents of their children clutching books they have found in one of Paul’s hunts.
Paul’s statistics offer pause for thought. While many of us take reading for granted, it isn’t that straightforward for everyone, particularly children.
10% of children on free school meals don’t have a single book at home, 20% say they never read, and 70% of school-excluded children have poor literacy skills. There is a strong correlation between access to books and reading for pleasure and stronger academic attainment.
Paul has seen this firsthand, working as a teacher, and was inspired by learning about Look For A Book schemes in other areas. While these are commonly occasional events in the school holidays, Paul had bigger ambitions for his scheme.
Given the cheap cost of the books (a single book is £1), he set himself the aim of running a book hunt in Medway every weekend, giving away 52 books at each one. With the help of his daughter, Hollie, he’d leave books around a location in Medway (recent sites have included Luton Millennium Green and Rookery Fields in Gillingham) and post the location on social media so the families can come out and find them. Inside the book, a note explains the scheme and encourages the finder to hide the book for someone else once they finish it. You can regularly see delighted posts from Paul on the Facebook group when someone posts a picture of a book they found that wasn’t left by him.
The hunts have an additional effect as well, as parents take their children to look for books and end up in parts of Medway they perhaps wouldn’t have visited otherwise. “I get comments from parents who have gone hunting, that they have found new places to go with their children though and that is always lovely to hear.”
Of course, even at £1 per book, it’s still over £50 to run each hunt, or £2,500 for an entire year. Paul quickly discovered that he couldn’t fund it all himself. “I do fund some myself, but those funds have dried up now. I had to make sure I paid the mortgage first”, he reflects.
This has led to him seeking sponsorship from local businesses, both large and small. He initially found success with a contribution from Bellway Homes that funded several hunts. Since then, smaller organisations like the Medway Little Theatre have also supported the project. Paul is eager to highlight that the entire project is non-profit, and every penny of the sponsorship income goes into providing the books for hunts.
So far, Medway Look For A Book has given away around 1,500 books in Medway, but he is now having a wider impact. Others have been directly inspired by Paul’s hunts and set them up in their own areas (including one in France), and while he finds it difficult to come up with an exact figure, he estimates it to now be tens of thousands.
Despite this, getting sponsors on board hasn’t been easy. “My pleas for help get ignored”, says Paul on the struggle to find support. “But those who do support, love the idea. I have worked with some lovely small businesses and a couple of large ones.”
Paul hasn’t sometimes struggled to find support from Medway Council too. After reaching out to the council’s Child Friendly Medway department, he found “they weren’t interested in helping at all”. At one point, he was told he wasn’t allowed to leave books for the hunts in any of Medway’s country parks, though he was able to get that lifted “after much back and forth.”
Still, none of this seems to put Paul off from his mission. While he hasn’t been able to quite keep to his initial plan of holding a book hunt every weekend, he has been running as many as the budget has been able to allow.
We all know the importance of getting children reading, and Medway is lucky to have at least one person determined to get as many books to those children as possible.
In brief
🗳️ Hoo St Werburgh and Chattenden are set to vote in a referendum on a Neighbourhood Plan for the area. The plan, by Hoo St Werburgh Parish Council, could shape the area's future development and feed into the larger Local Plan process.
🚓 Kent Police have launched a new initiative to tackle antisocial behaviour in Chatham. The vaguely threatening premise will see ‘relentless police activity’ in the area.
🏘️ New social housing built on the site of former garages in Chatham has been completed. MHS Homes' project sees 24 new affordable homes available in Princes Park.
🗣️ Conservative Party leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat was in Chatham today for a campaign event at Chatham Town Football Club. Former Chatham and Aylesford candidate Nathan Gamester posted something nice about him, but there was little sign of many other Medway Conservatives participating.
Another former Wilko rumbles back to life
It’s been nearly a year since Wilko collapsed, leaving four very large and empty stores in our town centres. Now, given the amount of time, how are each of them doing?
Rainham’s store was the first to be taken over, with B&M taking over the unit back in February. While this seemed to initially create a buzz in the precinct, word around the town is that the store feels rather barren much of the time.
Over in Chatham, a use has at least been found for half of the former store in the Pentagon. The upstairs of the unit forms part of the new Healthy Living Centre proposed for the town, while the downstairs has been used for occasional community events while a long-term tenant is sought.
Sadly, the town that needs the most support is the one that has had no movement at all. The Gillingham High Street store still sits entirely empty with no sign of any new tenant, acting as something of a blot on an already struggling shopping street.
This week, news came that the Strood store has found a new tenant, which will come as good news for the neighbouring Asda that is currently sharing a building with an empty unit. Fans of discount retailers can rejoice as Poundstretcher is set to move in to the former Wilko in Strood, adding to their Medway portfolio following an opening in Gillingham last year.
So a year on, two and a half of Medway’s Wilko stores have found new tenants, which in the current economic environment is perhaps more than might have been expected. Now to just find someone to take on the Gillingham store. Suggestions on a postcard…
Out to Lunch: Third Wave Coffee
In which Steven Keevil assesses the lunch options available in our towns. This week, he’s been down to Third Wave Coffee in Rochester…
Third Wave Coffee is a new café on Rochester High Street at the former Cake Man site. They have made good use of the space available, providing many comfortable seating options. You order at the counter, and free water is also available, so go crazy. If, like me, you weren’t aware of third-wave coffee, it is a movement specialising in high quality. For this reviewer, it remains essentially hot, burnt mud.
We went there for the sandwiches. We got a hot salt beef, gherkin, and mustard sandwich. In an excellent example of effective counter displays, we also bought a sausage roll and a salted caramel doughnut. All of this was served with a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea.
The sausage roll was delicious, with a flavoursome, delicate pastry, well-seasoned sausagemeat, and pieces of bacon for added enjoyment. The sandwich was generously filled with delicious salt beef and a delicate mustard, and it reminded me, and I don’t say this lightly, of the great Blueberry Park. Though Third Wave would need to expand its sandwich range to truly hit Blueberry greatness, the fact that the comparison is even being made tells us about the quality here.
This is a great addition to Rochester's lunch options and is well recommended.
Events this week
🚗 Allhallows Classic Car Show is taking place on Sunday (25 Aug) at Cross Park. See classic cars supported by live entertainment, food stalls, and a bar. £2 on the door.
🍔 Pulp Fiction is 30 years old, so the Odeon in Chatham is holding an anniversary screening on Monday (26 Aug). Quentin Tarantino’s one good film still holds up incredibly well three decades later. Tickets £5.
Poco Loco open mic is this Tuesday (27 Aug). The inclusive event at the Chatham bar welcomes solo musicians, bands, spoken word, poetry, and comedy. Free.
🦾 August 29 is Judgement Day, so Odeon in Chatham is holding an obligatory Terminator 2 screening on Thursday. It’s not as good as the first one (which, for some reason, they are showing the following day), but it’s still pretty good. Tickets £5.
Remember that our Medwayish shop contains a wide range of Medway-related gifts and products designed by local creatives. We have books, mugs, t-shirts, prints, and other fun bits and pieces. Check it out!
Footnotes
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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Power by Illuminati Hotties, You Can Do Better by Johnny Foreigner, and All Hell by Los Campesinos!
Interesting to read about Poundstretcher coming to Strood (joining Poundland, B&M, Savers etc.), but when, oh when, are we going to get a WAITROSE!
Medway council run hundreds of initiatives to try to encourage low income families to read.
These are at the LOCAL LIBRARY, run by Medway council. Why would the council support an initiative like this (where you are probably only going to find a book that is too challenging or easy for the child that finds it), when they can pop in the library and have huge choice, furthermore library staff are always on hand to direct and help and all for free to the user
If you want to talk about initiatives like this at least mention the fact that there are 15 free libraries in Medway with ‘summer reading challenges’, ‘baby bounce’ and ‘toddler boogie’ classes to encourage parents and children inside to foster a lifelong habit of reading. Thousands of ebooks available too.
This gentleman may have good intentions but remind readers that the local FREE library is far superior.