On a hot and sticky Friday in mid-August, with the city’s iconic ‘cathedral’, St James’ Park stadium, looming large above the rooftops of the residential houses nearby, the National Literacy Trust’s North East team gathered early in the west end of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to get ready for a family fun day of sporting proportions. The team set up the cavernous sports hall and side-rooms ready to welcome stall holders, local authors, sports coaches and most importantly over 300 children and their families for a day of free, literacy-inspired fun.
United by Stories was this year’s iteration of an annual family fun day hosted by the National Literacy Trust in the North East. A free and exciting day out for families of all ages which has literacy running through the heart of all its activities – the success of which is testament to careful collaboration and regional partnership, community insight and leaning into a local love of football as a driver to utilise local motivation to unlock a desire to read.
Flagship community events such as United by Stories in Newcastle, and others which take place across our 21 hub areas including Tales in the Park in Stoke-on-Trent, Share Your Story in Bradford and Little Stories Festival in Peterborough have been curated and delivered by our teams in partnership with local organisations to foster a love of reading for pleasure in children who are more likely to lack motivation to read, or have access to books, whilst school is closed for the break.
Statistics for the North East alone show that only 1 in 4 children (28.6%) say they enjoy reading in their free time. These literacy events - from storytelling on a big yellow bus in Bradford, to a literacy game of hide-and-seek in Nottingham – are a conscious effort to use inventive and exciting methods to shift attitudes towards reading and empower parents and carers with the free books, resources, and new ideas needed to develop fresh enthusiasm to pick up a book, share stories together at home and grow a generation of readers.
Working in partnership is fundamental to our approach
Our communities teams do not operate in a vacuum. In fact, we relish the opportunity to collaborate with partners and funders to shape, communicate and deliver these major summer moments. It is the nuance of local voices and partners who already work with communities that ensure our co-created events are relevant and representative of the families we are reaching.
United By Stories in Newcastle this August was one such display of community collaboration and creativity. Local partners from the cultural, arts and museum sector; local authors and storytellers; fellow charities like NEYouth, St Oswald’s and Healthworks, as well as Newcastle Foundation’s football coaches were on hand to bring literacy to life in a wide range of innovative and engaging ways.
The venue was no accident either. Kindly hosted by Newcastle United Foundation - an independent charity who use “the power of football to connect, motivate and inspire people in our region” – aligned with our local mission. The partnership utilised local knowledge and leveraged the region’s inherent passion for football to ensure we reached deep into the community. There were a mix of families in attendance with children of all ages, many of whom were only there because they were familiar with the venue and had attended lots of the foundation’s events already. The plethora of Toon Army football shirt-clad children also helped give away how many had heard about the event. But as one mum put it “an event about books and hosted at this venue (my daughter is NUFC mad!) – this is a perfect day out.” This rings true when we look at recent research which demonstrates that children are more motivated to read when books relate to their hobbies and interests. Events like United by Stories which strategically partner with Newcastle United Foundation and are set in the shadow of St James’ Park Stadium, choose to harness the uniting power of football to show that reading can be fun, social and deeply connected to the things children already love.
Similarly, the Big Summer Story Hunt hosted by our team on the Yorkshire Coast highlighted the far-reaching significance of strategic partnership and collaboration. The region’s community came together – from museums to libraries to playgroups – to spotlight the importance of reading for pleasure. The summer event spanned multiple venues across Scarborough, Whitby and Filey where children were encouraged to become story hunters hungry for their next literacy adventure! The collaborative approach means our work is amplified and more children are reached – we couldn’t have done what we did this summer in isolation and the impact lasts beyond the end of the last event as more families are more comfortable to access existing year-round venues, libraries and organisations who are championing reading and storytelling.
Creating lasting impact and opportunities for ongoing connection
Some families who arrived at Newcastle’s United by Stories event at 11am as the doors opened were spotted still enjoying all that was on offer as the stall holders packed up their tables at 2pm. Other families were returning familiar faces who had attended previous events hosted by the North East team, or whose children had been enthusiastic participants of the Little Big Book Club (a National Literacy Trust programme delivered with local primary schools) which demonstrates the impact our commitment to long-term partnership in the region has on families who take part. One parent even shared how, on hearing about United by Stories, her child was the one to insist they went, having had such a positive experience in the Little Big Book Club.
Crucially, both Newcastle and Gateshead Libraries were represented amongst the stall holders at the event, providing families with a way to build on their enjoyment and curiosity about reading and books by joining their local library. A young girl, aged 9, excitedly told us “I got a library card today so will go [to the library] lots now and choose more books to read – maybe find more stories about women’s football!” Building these ongoing journeys by working in local partnership with libraries in particular, provides families with lasting access books and a means to foster a fresh desire to seek out new books and explore a variety of titles - this is paramount if we are to grow a love of reading and create lasting change.
The youngest of the day’s visitors at United by Stories event had the chance to try out our much-loved early years programme – First Words Together which uses multisensory stations, puppets, singing and stories to instil a love of reading and build early communication skills just at the moment when babies are beginning to utter their first words. With a new series of the programme ready to roll out, this one-off taster of First Words Together during the summer could now be turned into a supportive, multi-week course to provide richer guidance and more opportunities to explore skills and tips. Young tots and their parents in Newcastle are invited to watch this space as the next sessions are coming soon to the region.
Summer across the regions brought the power of reading for pleasure to the fore
Our portfolio of summer community events all created a buzz, firmly putting reading for pleasure at the heart of the fun. What a summer of vibrant and inclusive family days out centred on the power of reading! Families across the UK were supported to strengthen their literacy skills as they engaged with storytelling in new ways, were given a book to take home with them to enjoy and hopefully, tell their friends about the fun they had. The engagement from local authors and storytellers who delivered interactive story sessions across our multiple hub events also modelled creative and easily replicable ways to share stories at home.
More summer highlights included the launch of the National Literacy Trust in Birmingham’s Summer Book Giveaway which aimed to support young people and parents to choose a book that speaks to them in a city-wide initiative designed to reignite a love for reading.
The Read Manchester team worked alongside Manchester Libraries to visit five different parks to inspire hundreds of families with a special Summer Reading Challenge roadshow.
Whilst the National Literacy Trust in Peterborough cast magic across the city with a dynamic four days of memorable and multi-sensory storytelling sessions to bring favourite picture books to life.
For the fourth year in a row, the National Literacy Trust in Stoke-on-Trent brought a magical summer storytelling festival to the city with their popular Tales in the Park events. The events are hyper-local as they are hosted in six parks across the city’s six towns which means the fun, fairground atmosphere and literacy activities are right on families’ doorsteps. In fact, over 5,300 people came together to celebrate the magic of stories, we gifted more than 3,300 books to children, and we welcomed nearly 600 new members to Stoke-on-Trent Libraries.
Be part of our story during the National Year of Reading in 2026
2026 is a significant year as we deliver the National Year of Reading – a year-long campaign that will engage new audiences in reading, encourage reading for pleasure and change the nation’s reading culture for good.
Our flagship summer events, like United by Stories, show what is possible when communities, partners, and families come together, as part of our commitment to making real and lasting change in local communities. We couldn’t do this without partnership and funding.
Do you want to be part of shaping our summer events in 2026 as we ramp up our flagship moments to celebrate reading, empower families with the confidence to share stories together and nurture children’s thirst for, and access to, books? You could help us to create a culture of reading in your region and equip local families with the literacy skills they need to thrive.
If you’d like to partner with us or find out more about what’s happening in the North East, please get in touch via email: Linzi.Winn@literacytrust.org.uk. Together, we can change the story in the North East.
If you are in another of our hub regions and interested in partnership, find a full list of the local areas we work in and relevant contact details on each page. Alternatively, please contact us via email: partnerships@literacytrust.org.uk.