From America With Love

Inside Bison Coffee, York

Check out the York café and vintage shop where even the table and chairs are for sale



SIT down for a strong flat white at the Bison coffee house in York – and be prepared to hang on to your seat.

For this is a café with a difference. Everything inside the compact two-room space at the foot of Heslington Road has a price tag – from the simple wooden ex-school chairs to the aluminium coffee pots and even the café workstation.

Owner Gavin Burke, 28, is a classics graduate from Newcastle University, who settled in York a few years back.

His vintage style of choice is ‘Americana’, which he defines as “American vintage, anything from the 1920s to the 1950s”. Or anything, he adds, before the ‘Space Age’.

There’s a heavy lean toward the functional and kitchen items in the shop: Gavin clearly likes things with a purpose.



Bison Coffee owner Gavin Burke

 “We sell lots of glass jars, crates, racks and vintage pigeon holes – we sell a lot of them for shop fittings.”

Items for the home don’t come more desirable, he reckons, than a 1940s French coffee pot made in Bakelite and stainless steel.

Step inside the back-room café and there are shelves of coffee pots on display, again all for sale.

But there are also teak tables, chests, mirrors, angle-poise lamps and even a set of deer antlers on the wall, all with a price tag. Friends needn’t fight over a choice piece either as Gavin says he can easily order more. “We’ve got a full deer’s head on order!”

Fancy the beat-up leather chair lingering in the café corner – it’s yours for between £150 and £200.

Why Americana? “I like the battered style of it,” says Gavin. “I like wood and metal and I like the rough and readiness and the functionality of it. These are useful objects with a faded utilitarian grandeur. It’s lovely.”

Vintage is in his blood. “I never had anything new. I grew up in a house that looked like this,” says Gavin, surveying his premises.

His mum, Sharon Bradley, is a vintage dealer based in Dorset. A few years ago, she moved to France to run a hotel. Gavin, originally from Middlesbrough, followed her, working in bars and ended up as a DJ, eventually landing his own show on Radio Nova in Bordeaux, where he had to speak French.

It was quite an achievement because he when he arrived in France he could barely speak the language.

“I spoke French with a Yorkshire twang!”

After two years in France, he moved back to the UK, settling in York and keen to open a café on the bustling route to the university.

“It took me a year and a half to find this place. There’s not really a coffee house in this area and there is a high density of students and dedicated local people.”

Customers can pick from a selection of drinks and snacks. Nine types of coffee are chalked up on the café blackboard, from espresso and French press to mochas and cortados.

On our visit, the intriguing sounding “Hasbean, Jailbreak Blend” was the brew of the day, which Gavin explained was “sweet and balanced, but quite bold”.

He said customers could request their preferred type of coffee via the Bison website. “We are quite malleable as far as customers are concerned,” says Gavin.

There is also a selection of breakfast snacks, toasties, and treats such as brownies on sale as well as soft drinks and teas.

Gavin sees Bison as more than a coffee house and vintage shop. “I want it to be a community space. People can book it for events in the evening. We have free WiFi and people come in here to work.”

It also operates as an exhibition space, showcasing work from local artists.

FITNESS: And baby came too!

Mums and babes together at the
 novel Yumi Mummy fitness class in York

TINY Samuel Stephenson is just four months old – but already he’s attending a fitness class.

For while four-month-old Samuel writhes around on the padded floor of the gym, mum Fay is breaking into a sweat in a vigorous Legs, Bums and Tums workout for new mums.

The class is one of several offered by Yumi Mummy Fitness, a new venture which allows new mothers to lose weight and get fit while still looking after baby.

As the women warm up with some gentle lunges, babies watch from the sidelines, strapped safely into their portable car seats. Some are playing happily with each other – or with soft toys – on the giant padded floor of the Chokdee Academy at Nether Poppleton, which doubles up as a Thai Boxing studio in the evening.

There’s a play pen to place tots in, but toddlers are allowed to roam around – and even join in on some of the moves.

The novel idea is the brainchild of Jo Cadden, a qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer, whose husband Richard runs the Chokdee Academy.

When she had their first child, Oscar, 14 months ago, Jo realised how hard it was for new mums to take exercise.

Gym memberships can be prohibitively expensive, particularly when you have to factor in extra charges for childcare or use of a crèche.

“I realised there must be lots of mums who want to get out and exercise but are struggling with child care,” says Jo.

So the solution was to invite them to bring baby along too!

Classes can be noisy and chaotic at times, admits Jo, but mums understand.

“Some weeks they can all be making a noise but the mums are able to get up and down – and even breastfeed if they need to. I just carry on teaching!”

Yumi Mummy offers four classes every week – Bokwa (like Zumba) at 10am on Tuesdays and fitness yoga at 11am on Tuesdays; Legs, Bums and Tums on Thursdays at 10am, followed by Pilates at 11.

Prices range from £5-£6.50 for the hour class.

Fitness trainer and mum-of-three Sarah Vincent teaches the Tuesday classes. She said it was important for women to start exercising as soon as safely possible after giving birth.

“As soon as you get the all-clear from the GP, which is usually after your six-week check, you should get out and do some exercise,” advises Sarah.

“It takes three days to form a habit and three days to break one, so if you get into the habit of sitting on the sofa with baby, telling yourself you’ll lose the weight next year, then go on and have another baby, you will be putting fat on top of fat.

“There is no magical quick fix to losing weight; just have to work hard.

“You don’t have to be at it forever – just until you get it off.”

Fay Stephenson also has three children – the latest, Samuel, was born four months ago. For the past six weeks, Fay, has been coming to Jo’s class and has lost a stone in weight.

Fay, originally from Scotland, but now settled in York, said: “The appeal of coming here is that I can bring the wee fella with me. I don’t have to put him in an expensive crèche on top of the price of a class.”

First-time mum Sherrie Wood had some personal training sessions with Jo before the birth of her daughter Matilda two months ago. Now she is coming to the classes to try to shed the three stones she put on while pregnant.

Sherrie said she felt really motivated to get back into shape. She added: “I’m really looking forward to getting my fitness back.”

Yumi Mummy Fitness runs at Rose Avenue, York Business Park, Poppleton, York, YO26 6RR. Telephone: 07949 761292/ email info@yumimummy.co.uk or visit the website yumimummy.co.uk

FASHION: Back to the jazz age

White dress and coat from Carla Ruiz (£325)

from Fenwick, York

Fashion’s in a flap as the Roaring Twenties take centre stage this spring. MAXINE GORDON throws the spotlight on the trend, while FRANK DWYER takes the pictures…

ARE you ready to become a flapper girl? Fashion continues its love affair with the past and this season it is the turn of the 1920s.
Dropped waists, beaded dresses and layers of pearls are swinging this way for spring and summer.

Taking its cue from movies such as the Oscar-winning The Artist and the upcoming remake of The Great Gatsby, the Twenties are the style decade du jour. Top designers are at the helm of this revival; their collections for spring/summer were brimming with feather trims, crystal beads and sparkling sequins.

Dress from All Saints (£295) at Fenwick's

For Ralph Lauren, the flapper dress reigned supreme; over at Gucci, it was all about the dropped waist. Feathers were the trim of choice for Michael Kors and Oscar De La Renta. Marc Jacobs worked the straight silhouette (think Twiggy in The Boyfriend) and Matthew Williamson went for all-out Gatsby glamour with a classic combination of gold, beading and feathers.



But you don’t have to cough up couture prices to copy the look. We teamed up with Fenwick’s department store in York to stage our own Twenties-inspired photoshoot.

The look is all about shape. Waistlines should be dropped, of course, but look for other features such as tunics with banded hemlines, or light knits with kimono sleeves. Opt for sheer shifts or straight-line dresses covered with beads and sequins. We found a perfect example at All Saints, now available at Fenwick.



Kimono top, Mint Velvet (£59),

at Fenwick



Accessories make the look – and add a splash of glamour. Have fun with feathers and headpieces. Take a beaded hair band and wear it around your forehead rather than in Alice fashion for instant Twenties feel.



Shoes should make you want to hit the dance floor. Pick strappy sandals in gold or some daintier court shoes with straps – perfect for a spot of tap dancing. We found the perfect selection at Kurt Geiger in Fenwick.

Handbags are catching the mood too. Clutches covered in pearls and boxy bags with crystals would complete any outfit.

We staged our shoot at York’s fabulous Grand Opera House, which is paying its own homage to the Twenties in April with a return run of the hit musical Chicago.



Starring Ali Bastian as Roxie Hart and Bernie Nolan as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton, the award-winning musical – based on real life events in the 1920s when nightclub singer Roxie Hart shot her lover and tried to escape death row – will be taking over the Opera House from Monday April 16 to Saturday April 21. For tickets, call 0844 871 3024 or visit www.atgtickets.com/york

Photoshoot thanks to:

Model: Beth Argile

Hair and make-up: Beckie Stirk (www.beckiestirk.co.uk)

Stylists: Pauline Robinson, at Fenwick, York, and Hannah Clugston

All clothes and accessories from Fenwick, Coppergate, York

Venue: Grand Opera House, York

TV chef Peter's pasta tips

MAXINE GORDON reports on the Pocklington lad who failed his cookery GCSE but went on to become a TV chef

TV chef Peter Sidwell

PETER SIDWELL has his hands full. Not only is he putting the finishing touches to a new cook book, he is opening a new restaurant and has become a father for the second time.

“I’m living on espresso at the moment,” laughs the 35-year-old from Pocklington and star of Channel 4’s cookery series Lakes On A Plate.

Yes, you read that correctly. It’s Lakes not Yorks on a plate, because Peter lives in Cumbria, running a successful foodie empire that includes a restaurant/café; a bakery and cookery school.

He lives in Cockermouth with wife, Emma, a primary teacher also from Pocklington, and their children, Poppy, four and two-month-old Thomas.

Peter’s heart still belongs to York. He loves York Market and when he meets up with his mates they return to their old haunts, Fibbers and the Stone Roses bar.

“I always come to the food festival and have a look around,” he adds.

Peter attended Woldgate school. He is dyslexic and struggled academically, even failing his cookery GCSE. He left at 16 and got a job in a pub.

“I was chopping carrots, buttering bread and making prawn cocktails up in wine glasses,” recalls Peter.

But he soon got the bug and was taken on at the Ambassador Hotel on the Mount. It’s long since given way to swanky flats, but Peter has fond memories of his time there and later at the York Pavilion Hotel.

His next move was to HSBC bank, doing corporate catering, often at its capital base at Canary Wharf. However, the regular commute from York to London became too much.

“I was spending too much time on the East Coast main line and wearing a suit rather than a chef’s jacket,” recalls Peter.

So he and wife Emma took the gamble of their lives; they sold their house in Pocklington, packed a van and drove to the Lakes, where they took the lease on an old clothes shop and using all their savings revamped it into a café and deli.

“We wanted to create the sort of place we would like to spend time in,” explained Peter. They decked it out with leather sofas and the like. “But we never got to sit on them because we were so busy!”

Peter has now sold that business and focussing his energies on his latest outlet, Peter Sidwell @Rheghed, his café at the Rheghed outdoor centre at Penrith.

He is also working on a new TV series, finishing a fourth book about family meals and promoting his latest publication, Simply Good Pasta.

Divided into seasonal sections and based around Peter’s down-to-earth tastes, the emphasis is on taste and speed, as well as using good ingredients, many of them British.

This makes for some unusual combinations, such as Brussels sprouts with cream, garlic and pine nuts, but Peter makes no apologies for breaking down culinary barriers.

“Pasta is so familiar to us. If we are in a rush, we can just hit a bag of pasta and some sauce. I wanted to fuse that with British seasonal ingredients. Italian food is all about simplicity; how maybe two, three, or four ingredients at the most can make a perfect, quick, dish.”

Among the home-grown ingredients he suggests trying with pasta include purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus and even parsnip, with a dash of chilli.

“If you get the opportunity, walk through York Market and just buy what you need each day, the way the Italians do,” advises Peter.

Pasta dinners can be cheap too; especially if you avoid meat and follow some of Peter’s cooking tips.

“Slow cook some onions with garlic then add some Parmesan, and some pasta. It is as cheap as chips; you could feed a family of four for £2 or less.”

Spoken like a true Yorkshireman.

Trainspotting in luxury

HERE is the perfect hotel for trainspotters – the St Pancras Renaissance in London

The St Pancras Renaissance

TRAIN announcements as your head hits a pristine Egyptian Cotton pillowcase may not bode well for a great night’s sleep.

But happily, the announcement was to say that St Pancras station was about to close for the night.

Our suite, in the newly refurbished St Pancras Renaissance hotel has the sort of view trainspotters would sell their grannies for – straight on to the tracks.

Looking out from our 20-feet window we could also see Paul Day’s gigantic bronze, The Meeting Place, depicting a couple embracing, which has become an icon at the station.

Size matters at St Pancras. The scale and proportions of the station and hotel are hard to take in close-up. It’s only from a distance, as you exit King’s Cross and turn right that you can appreciate its full gargantuan, Gothic glory.

The soaring red-brick façade with its turreted clock tower looks as if it has escaped from the pages of a Grimm’s fairy tale.

The Gulliver scale continues inside. The corridors to our suite were as wide as a street; the windows in our room as high as a bungalow.

The hotel is a perfect stop for London or Europe-bound Yorkshire folk. Take the train to King’s Cross, disembark, and cross the road to St Pancras, home to the Eurostar terminal, as well as an upmarket selection of shops, cafés and even a Carluccio’s restaurant. And, of course, the St Pancras Renaissance.

Opened in 1873 as the Midland Grand Hotel and designed by George Gilbert Scott, this hotel was an architectural sensation. Of it, Gilbert Scott said: “It is often spoken of to me as the finest building in London. My belief is that it is possibly too good for its purpose.”

Sadly, some 60 years later, the hotel was closed. There were calls to knock it down, until a campaign succeeded in having the building listed. It was used as railway offices for the next 50 years.

However, some £200 million has been spent returning the hotel to its former glory, including restoring the ornate interiors. After 13 years hard slog, the hotel re-opened last May and is already winning accolades: it was recently voted the best hotel in the UK by The Sunday Times Magazine.



The gothic staircase in the heart of the hotel

 Its grand focal point is a magnificent Gothic staircase that coils up through the centre of the building giving you reason not to take the lift.

The former booking office has been turned into a café-restaurant, simply named The Booking Office. We enjoyed a tasty dinner here, the beetroot salad with blue cheese and walnut offering a fresh and earthy starter with a perfectly cooked (medium-rare) rib eye steak with thrice-cooked chips (super crispy) to follow. Lemon tart with meringue and berry compote finished things off on a satisfyingly sweet note. A quaffable bottle of Chianti and a coffee and hot chocolate rounded things off nicely – the meal for two, with drinks and tips, cost around £100, which we though was good value.

The hotel is also home to the The Gilbert Scott, a brasserie run by top chef Marcus Wareing’s team and named in honour of the building’s original architect.

Our suite was in the Chambers section of the hotel, which gave us access to a sprawling and relaxing lounge, opened from 6.30am to midnight, and the place to unwind with the newspapers or a magazine, catch the news on TV, and enjoy complimentary drinks and snacks. A buffet style breakfast is served here, and light afternoon tea is on from 3pm-5.30pm while pre-dinner canapés and drinks are on offer from 5.30pm-7.30pm.

Our trip to London was a whirlwind one; we took in two art shows (David Hockney at the RA and Japanese artist Yoyoi Kusama at the Tate Modern), as well as a trip to Spitalfields Market, fashion shopping in Oxford Street and Regent Street and to the home stores of Tottenham Court Road. So it was bliss to recharge our batteries in the hotel spa. Deep in the vaults of the hotel, the spa interior continues the Victorian theme, with ornate tiles on the wall and cavernous, pillared, spaces.


Luxury suite at the St Pancras



We loved the little touches too; gorgeous Ren toiletries in the spa and hotel bathrooms and a butler service, which we called upon once when we realised we had forgotten our toothpaste!

Oh, how the other half live.





Fact file

St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel
www.stpancrasrenaissance.com
0207 841 3400


Chambers Suites are from £330 plus VAT which includes access to the Chamber’s Club offering 24-hour refreshments and breakfast. In addition you also get a £30 voucher redeemable in the spa, a wetshave or haircut in Melogy, the men’s grooming salon in the hotel and also VIP transfers to Eurostar and the WIFI is complimentary too.

Putting on The Ritz

One of my toughest assignments(!)...
lunch at The Ritz with Simon Girling, from York,
voted 'Best restaurant manager in the world'
by Michael Winner

I track down Simon Girling, former York luggage porter, now working at The Ritz and voted the 'Best restaurant manager in the world'...

SIMON GIRLING has a folder the size of a pillow detailing his meteoric career.

This means the man described by Michael Winner as the "Best restaurant manager in the world” can easily lay his hands on the letter of appointment to his first job in the hotel trade back in 1986.

It was for a post as luggage porter at the Forte Hotel in Tadcaster Road, York.

“The wage was £80 a week,” recalls Simon, laughing at the memory. That’s around £4,000 a year – about the price of the most expensive bottle of wine at Simon’s current place of work, The Ritz in London’s Piccadilly.

We’ve come to the capital to find out how a former Yorkshire choirboy and son of a York vicar scaled the glittering heights of the hospitality industry.

It was a VIP day out; we travelled first class with East Coast, restraining ourselves at the complimentary breakfast mindful of our luxury lunch invitation from Simon.

And luxury is the right word for The Ritz. Opulent, lavish, magnificent and all the other synonyms fit perfectly too.

The interior is palatial, so it is no surprise that the Royals are regulars – the Queen had her 80th birthday party here and the restaurant was a favourite of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. It was at The Ritz that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowes decided to make their first appearance in public together.

On arrival, Simon greets us in the Palm Court, where some 420 people take afternoon tea daily – spread over five sittings.

Then it is into the restaurant, where the jaw-dropping begins. You wonder where to look first – at the enormous 20-plus-foot windows that flood light into the grand room, made lustrous by gilded ornamentation and a ring of ornate chandeliers. Then there is the mirrored wall, again reflecting the light, and making the restaurant appear twice its size.

Sitting down for lunch with Press photographer Frank Dwyer, we look around to see if we can spot any famous faces. We have been told to keep our cameras away as guests do not wish to be inadvertently photographed.

There are no celebs to be spotted. Instead, the real stars are the food – plate after plate of perfection sent up from the kitchen by chef John Williams – and the exceptional staff. Service, as you imagine, is faultless, and the waiters and sommeliers offer their knowledge and insight as each course arrives.

We work our way through a light apple jelly amuse-bouche and a crisp and fresh crab and apple “cannelloni” starter before turning to the more robust dishes of turbot with mushroom and chicken jus, followed by Barbary duck with quince, swede and a walnut and Madeira reduction.

Simon Girling expertly flambés
Crepe Suzette in the dining room
at The Ritz, London

For dessert, a portable stove is wheeled out and Simon flambés some Crepe Suzettes to be served with ice-cream.

Armchair cookery fans may have seen Simon before. The 43-year-old took part in Michel Roux’s Service on BBC2, training participants in how to prepare Crepe Suzette.

As one of the leading hotel managers in the UK, Simon was an obvious choice for the TV series which aimed to instil the values of good service into young Brits.

Encouraging more home-grown talent into the industry is one of Simon’s passions. “In France or Italy, what we do is seen as a respectable profession. But this isn’t so in England, that’s why we have so many people from overseas working in London.”

And yet, Simon is the exception. His career spans 26 years, during which he has worked in some of the UK’s leading hotel restaurants and with top chefs including Phil Vickery and Gary Rhodes. He has amassed many admirers and accolades en route.

And yet Simon’s feet remain firmly on the ground, in solid Yorkshire style. Of Michael Winners’ proclamation, he says: “I am very proud of it… but how can someone have eaten in every restaurant in the world? I’m sure a lot of French maitre’d’s would have something to say about it!”

Winner is just one of the scores of celebrity guests and clients Simon has served. The Ritz has six private dining rooms and, as we arrive, Simon has to dash off to meet and greet a VIP. Quizzed later, he refuses to divulge the identity.

“The reason people come here is that we are very discreet,” he says.

Simon has recently been promoted and is now an executive in charge of food and beverage at the hotel. It’s a world away from his first job lugging luggage at the Forte in York.

And yet it was almost by chance that Simon happened upon his career.

He left his home in York aged nine to board at Ripon Cathedral Choir School – and didn’t return until he was 18.

Instead of taking A Levels he joined the RAF as a trade musician, playing the flute, saxophone and piano. But Simon’s real passion was for sport. He wanted to change to PT instruction, but the RAF wouldn’t allow it. So he left and returned home to his parents in York.

His dad, Andrew, was the reverend at the St Edward the Confessor Church on Tadcaster Road.

“I left home aged nine then went back at 18,” recalls Simon. “That’s really awkward when you have been you own man since the age of nine.”

“By sheer coincidence, the only reason I fell into this business was that there was a hotel next to dad’s church. I went round, knocked on the door, said I lived next door and needed a job. They said they had a job as a luggage porter. I took it and thought it was something I would do for three or four months. But I loved it. It wasn’t so much carrying bags but the whole hotel environment that I loved. I knew this is what I wanted to do.”

Simon hopes his story can encourage other young people. “You don’t have to go into a job or a career at a high level. Just get a job and work your way up,” he advises.

It takes stamina and attention to detail to succeed in the hotel industry, two qualities that Simon has in abundance.

His days are long, often stretching to 12 to 14 hours. It begins with the school run before taking the train from his family home in Surrey into central London. At The Ritz, his day is split in half: in the morning and afternoon there are meetings as well as overseeing the staff and lunch service, for which Simon and his team wear morning dress. After 5pm, he changes from tails into a DJ, ready for dinner.

He has Sundays and Mondays off. Sunday is a family day, usually spent ferrying his children, Oscar, eight, and Zara, five, to various sports activities. On Monday, he goes swimming or does a spot of gardening. He admits the schedule is gruelling and says it’s just as well his wife, Jenny, also works in hotels and understands the demands of industry.

“There is a price to pay,” says Simon. “I work long, hard hours, but I enjoy it so I don’t mind.”

During our visit, Simon displays his forensic attention to detail. Outside, he notices some of the light bulbs on the iconic ‘Ritz’ sign are out and is straight on to his mobile, calling housekeeping.

“I’m very particular,” he says. “I’m very fussy with the way things are. And I am very organised. I believe these are the strengths that relate well in this business. If you look around this building, you will see that everything is immaculately placed.”

Ultimately, says Simon, The Ritz’s appeal lies in its fabulous interiors and faultless food and service.

He says: “There is just no place like it. We fly the flag for British cuisine in an opulent hotel.”

Fact file
Lunch at The Ritz starts at £45 for the three-course menu of the day. The five-course tasting menu prepared by chef John Williams costs £99 or £160 when matched with wine for each course. Afternoon tea in the Palm Court costs £42.

Find out more at theritzlondon.com


We travelled by East Coast trains to London. Standard advance returns booked online via eastcoast.co.uk start from £21. For times and fares you can also call 08457 225225 or visit staffed stations and agents.

COMMENT: Why we need to read to our kids

EARLY LEARNING...  An old picture of me reading to my
daughter  Eva at York Library back in 2004 when she was about two!

A WAR of words has broken out between the chief inspector of schools and teachers over literacy standards in primary education.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, claims England is being overtaken by other leading nations because progress on literacy has stalled.
Sir Michael said one in five children was not reaching the standard expected (level 4) at the end of primary school, arguing that this puts them on the back foot moving up into secondary school and then into the jobs market.
Teaching unions take issue with Sir Michael's claims, discrediting the data used. Undeterred, Sir Michael is laying down the gauntlet, with a ten-point plan to improve literacy levels in primaries. This includes phonics checks on five and six year olds to make sure they are picking up the building blocks for reading and giving parents information about their child's reading age as well as how they are doing against national targets.
These moves should be welcomed. Anything that improves children's ability to read and write has to be applauded  especially methods proven to work, such as the phonics which focuses on the sounds of letters and groups of letters.
Giving parents more information about their child's reading age should help too. This way, parents can make sure the books they buy for their children, or the ones they choose at the library, are age-appropriate. There is nothing more guaranteed to turn a child away from books than a text that is too difficult. Teachers advise applying the five-finger rule: ask your child to read a page of a new book and count on your fingers how many words they struggle with. If it is more than five, the book is too advanced for them. Put it back until they are more confident and skilled readers.
Of course, this all presumes that parents are actively involved in their child's literacy development  and this is not always the case.
Research by the National Literacy Trust found that a third of parents did not recognise that they were the most important influence on their child's language and literacy development.
It also discovered that learning at home had the biggest influence on the achievement of a child and was a more accurate predictor of future success than the family's income.
On the back of this, the trust has launched a Words For Life campaign, urging parents and carers to commit more time to helping children develop their literary skills.
A quick browse of its website (http://www.wordsforlife.org.uk/) provides plenty of ideas and tips on how to get involved with your child's reading and writing.
It provides a helpful “milestones” section which you can use as a checklist to measure your child's development. There's also a section on “fun things to do together”, again broken down into age categories. Here, you can download stories to listen to, learn how to create a family history book together and even write your own comic adventure, using an exciting template of ready-drawn images.
There are some tips for reading bed-time stories from top children's author Michael Rosen as well as lists of recommended reads, split into age groups, including stories for football-mad kids and fact-based works for children not so keen on fiction. There are even some “free books” to download with related fun worksheets attached.
The aim, clearly, is to make reading enjoyable. The key to turning the reluctant reader is not just to help the child learn the fundamentals of the process, but for them to discover the pleasure in it to.
World Book Day takes place every March and this month pupils have been dressing up as their favourite characters and spending free £1 tokens on books of their choice.
That's all well and good, but we have to make sure that the association between having a good time and reading a book is not just a one-day-a-year affair.