Link Worker Diary: From White City to Westminster

By Esther Ayoola, Link Worker

Last Wednesday, we were lucky enough to be invited along to the House of Lords where author Abi Elphinstone was speaking about her work as a children’s author and a Beanstalk Reading Helper – one of West London Zone’s partner charities. Two children who are currently part of the West London Zone cohort travelled all the way from White City to Westminster to attend the event, which was hosted by Beanstalk and business network The Pink Shoe Club. Throughout the course of the busy evening, a number of politicians, media icons and businessmen and women greeted us and contributed to conversations about the importance of reading.

Later on in the evening, Abi sat with our visibly excited children and read them an excerpt from her book ‘The Dreamsntacher’ before sparking a discussion about their experiences of books and reading. They also discussed some of the illustrations featured in her book and exchanged ideas with the children about stories they had enjoyed as children and the benefits of continuing to read.

The children also rubbed shoulders with a number of influential figures such as Peter Snow, his son Dan Snow and Lord Polak, who chatted with them about their favourite books and how reading has helped them.

Thank you to Beanstalk and The Pink Shoe Club for a wonderful event – I don’t think that our kids will stop reading anytime soon!