Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois showed his support for Essex County Council’s ‘Summer Reading Challenge’ during a recent visit to Hockley Library. The County Hall backed initiative encourages youngsters to select and read through six new books from their local library, over the school summer holiday.

Currently, almost 20,000 Essex children have entered the programme, which sees successful participants rewarded with a series of stickers and a final certificate, if they complete all six books.

Mark thanked library staff and volunteers who are supporting the programme, as well as County Councillor Mark Durham, who oversees the ECC Library service. Commenting on the Summer Reading Challenge, Mark said:

“This is a great idea, to encourage our young people to improve their reading skills during the school holidays. The staff at Hockley Library - and their counterparts across the County - are doing a fantastic job in supporting this initiative and nearly twenty thousand kids have taken them up on the offer so far, with hopefully more to follow.”