CHILDREN in Wokingham enjoyed a morning of stories read by special guests on Thursday, August 4.
Residents from Shinfield View Care Home popped down the road to the School Green Centre to read to the youngsters.
The three volunteers, assisted by staff from the home, took the children’s imaginations to a safari through a story which centred around giraffes.
The event is part of Shinfield Parish Council’s storytime programme for children.
Storytime is an initiative which runs fortnightly, with Little Knellies Nursery reading during term-time and residents taking up the mantle over the holidays.
Reetu Jose-Rai, whose son was in attendance, was full of praise for the initiative. She said: “It’s great to help local mums and offer support, especially now during the holidays when there might not be so much to do.
“It’s somewhere to bring them where you get to meet other parents and my son gets to meet other kids and play.
“In terms of the books, it’s a really great idea. It’s a great initiative to get the kids reading and just keep them entertained.”
The Shinfield resident believes Storytime has the potential to bring together not just young and old, but also the new and old communities in Shinfield.
She said: “It’s such a big development. I guess there’s quite a few of us [in the new community] so we’ve connected a lot with the people on the development and online through social groups, but I think things like this help in integrating both old and new communities.
“This is good in the sense that it’s open for everyone and we get to meet other people.”
Emma Dixon, events assistant at Shinfield View Care Home, was in attendance to support the volunteer readers. She believed the trip out could do the residents as much good as the children.
She explained: “It’s really nice for the residents because a lot of them remember having kids, they remember growing up. It’s just a bit of fun for them really.
“It’s just a bit of fresh air as well, a change of scenery. It’s great for mental stimulation, it’s exercise, it’s just positive for them.
“Over the pandemic, it was so much harder to do anything with them, have people in, get people out and it had a big impact on the health of the residents.
“Not getting that same social interaction has made us realise how important getting out and doing things is.”
