Night Walks

The extraordinary Maggie's Culture Crawl took place last night. Hundreds of walkers assembled in the early autumn evening sunshine in Victoria Embankment Gardens. The walk kicked off with music, a rousing warm up, and the fabulous Dame Harriet Walter and husband Guy Paul reading selections from Dickens' Night Walks to see them off into the night.  Later, actors Jamie Glover, Harry Livingstone, Sarah Whitehouse, and GAB's own the wonderful Helen Mumby read poems from Josephine Hart's anthology Catching Life by the Throat in the exotic surroundings of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Walkers came, stopped to listen, were gripped and then walked on to taste Fortnum & Mason's tea before walking away into the night.
At the end of the 15 mile walk every walker was given a copy of Night Walks as a memento by Give a Book, who gratefully acknowledge the generous help of Penguin in doing this. It was all in aid of the excellent Maggie's Centres whose new centre opens in Aberdeen on Monday. And GAB was pleased to be part of it. Onwards. And please go on to Give a Book so that we can keep this going.

Reading Groups and feeling good

The pleasures and power of Reading Groups are amongst many good things celebrated by The Reading Agency. Their Reading Groups for All describes again and again the sheer value of reading-- to cheer you up,  to challenge, to inspire and share. Give a Book gives books to Prison Reading Groups, to Maggie's Centres,  Age UK and anywhere else where reading makes a difference. We can only do it with your help, for which our heartfelt thanks. 

from Maggie's Centres: some quotes about the books

“The first instalment of books has gone down incredibly well. There is something very humanising about being offered a book. People's first reaction is not to believe they are allowed to keep them .. we have to persuade them quite hard that it isn't a library system... then the books have induced round the table chats (we left them in a pile on the kitchen table for a day and explained what they were for.. ) most people hadn't read the selection or only knew a bit about them but the fact they look so new and nice makes them very enticing.

There is also a sense of being surprised by the books. You are so overwhelmed by cancer literature both in hospitals and because kind meaning friends give cancer books to you that it is so nice to be given a book that has nothing to do with your illness but is for you as a person.“

“When you're undergoing cancer treatment you can suddenly find yourself with a lot of time on your hands. Being given a book is one of the best ways I know to escape the reality of everyday and move into another world.”

“Books are the best gifts and to walk into Maggie's and find a whole rich selection to chose from made my day .. “

http://www.maggiescentres.org/newspublications/latest_news/give_a_book.html

Return to the GIVE A BOOK website http://www.giveabook.org.uk/