Our charity has been supporting Reading Force since 2019 with grants totalling in 拢75,000 to ensure the organisation can continue their support for Naval families by focusing on shared family activities, maintaining family relationships through supporting communications with the deployed parent, and focusing on promoting health and well-being. Reading Force provided 930 scrapbooks and books for families so they can connect with one another.
Caroline鈥檚 husband is in the Navy and their two children, Bethany and Jacob, are now aged nine and seven. Caroline鈥檚 family started participating in Reading Force approximately five years ago, when they met RF Ambassador in Scotland, Fiona Maxwell at a welfare event.
Caroline says they have mostly filled their scrapbooks while Dad is away at sea.
It鈥檚 amazing 鈥 it's so good for them. And they get to share it with Dad while he鈥檚 away. They talk about what they鈥檙e doing in videocall - it鈥檚 a talking point. And when their Dad emails they鈥檒l reply to tell him they鈥檝e just received a new book. I don鈥檛 know how but Reading Force always gets the reading age right with the books they send.
Caroline
School is so structured, but with this they can write and draw what they want. Bethany loves the art side of it. We do it together at home, I鈥檒l listen to them read and we鈥檒l sit down together and draw in the scrapbooks. We do have a collection of scrapbooks now 鈥 they are very special.鈥
The Lock family have completed a total of 15 scrapbooks over five years. Each time they enter the Scrapbook competition (which is returned to them) they receive a book prize and certificate of participation which they can then keep as a precious family memento.
The scrapbooks also get shared with the wider family, as Caroline says, 鈥淲e鈥檙e now in Scotland but or we send them screenshots of the scrapbooks, so they know what Bethany and Jacob are doing.鈥
She says 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen Fiona at events several times now, she鈥檚 great, and I always tell her how much we enjoy Reading Force. It means when Dad goes away, they鈥檝e got something to show him, and he can see how they鈥檙e getting on. Reading Force is amazing 鈥 the whole team.鈥
To find out more about Reading Force and how to access their services, you can visit their website at
