Accrington Stanley Community Trust linked up with the Community Restart, SUDE Team, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust to deliver a new project that has been a huge success for two members of our community.
The ‘L4A’ Project (Literacy for Adults) was born following a recognised need for teaching adults how to learn to read. After numerous attempts researching various educational services, it became apparent the only access for this type of learning was through local colleges, but the students were already required to have a basic level of reading ability. We contacted a small Southern charity (Read Easy) who do offer this learning programme, but unfortunately were unable to provide this in the North. We visited various services (NHS, Job Centres etc.) and they all verified they had encountered numerous clients that needed this type of input, a statement noted from a client was ‘hopefully one day I will be able to read my own utility bill’. As a charity, we were deeply saddened by this statement and decided to create a project to offer our community, which in turn, could better people’s lives but also enable them to access further education.
The project consisted of volunteer English teaching tutors, volunteer mentors, to assist the tutors and students. Accrington Stanley offered an idyllic location overlooking the football ground, from where the 12 week programme took place. The project entailed using phonics and a multi-sensory approach, a back to basic programme in an informal and relaxed atmosphere, where learning together is enjoyable and empowering!
After the success of the initial course we are looking to expand the programme by training more volunteer tutors and mentors, allowing us to offer this to more students.
Pictured above is Gary with his tutor and members of the Community Restart, SUDE Team, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust. All at Accrington Stanley would like to congratulate Gary and another student who both successfully completed the L4A Project.
We would also like to put on record our thanks to the Duchy of Lancaster who provided some funding for this project to take place.
