Stage 1: Creating the Book
It was really import to the team that the book was a community project working with local children, they wanted the book to appeal to a massive audience so agreed it would be a compilation of stories by children of all ages rather than just the one story.
So they set out contacting local schools to enlist the help of their pupils to write about their experiences over the past year and what they would like children of the future to learn about the pandemic.
The centre team visited 4 local schools and held a further 5 assemblies via Zoom to explain the project to over 1,000 children.
The chosen charity partner to work with on the project was Bookmark, the reading charity. They are a literacy charity that give children the reading skills and confidence they need for a fair chance in life, through our flexible volunteer-led programme.
Their volunteers deliver 1:1 reading programmes for children aged 5-8 who are falling behind, so that they can gain the necessary skills and confidence to succeed in school and beyond. Volunteers book fun, flexible 30-minute reading sessions twice a week through the Bookmark app.
They provide much needed online reading support to children in schools across the UK, and with it being reported that one in four children had no schooling or tutoring at all during lockdown, there has never been a more crucial time to support children’s literacy and education.
At Bookmark, we want every child to read, and our work has never been more important. Even prior to school closures, eight children in an average class would leave primary school unable to read well and, during lockdown, 380,000 children were at home without a single book.
To help children with their writing skills the centre team produced some hand writing tips with advice on how to write the perfect story.
This information along with details of Bookmark and how they can support the schools literacy programmes were given to all schools and made available in the centres and to download from the websites.
Details of how the money raised from project would help the community was also included.
Stage 2: Production
Over 600 fantastic stories, poems and pictures were received. Entries came both from the schools that had been visited and directly to the centre following promotion in both centres and on their digital channels.
The centre team read through every entry and between them selected their favourite 50 to be included in the ‘Stockton Stories’ book. To ensure all the children were acknowledged a display of all entries was put in an empty unit window to showcase the wonderful work.
The book A5, 30 page perfectly bound book was then printed ready for the launch event and to start selling copies. The book included illustrations of characters that featured in the stories.
To thank the children for their contribution to Stockton Stories we rewarded all 50 budding authors with a book token to encourage them to continue reading, plus a certificate and their very own copy of the book.
As a thank you to the schools for their support and for encouraging their pupils to participate in the competition, the 3 schools that submitted the most entries also received a reward.
Each of the 3 schools received £100 to spend on books for their school library to keep their pupils reading.
- Roseberry Primary School, Billingham
- St Cuthbert’s RC Primary School, Stockton on Tees
- St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School, Thornaby
Stage 3: The Launch
To celebrate the launch of the book, a two day event was held at the centre during the school holidays in June.
The authors of the stories were invited to attend the event and read their stories to their friends and families in ‘Storybook Corner’.
To bring the book to life a selection of the illustrations from the book were made into cardboard cutouts to set the scene and event staff were dressed as the key characters to engage with families and read extracts of the book.
Children who attended the event were given a ‘Take and Make’ bag with all the equipment to make their very own bookmark to use when they read their copy of Stockton Stories.
Over 100 copies of the book were sold at the launch events with all profits being donated to Bookmark.
The Results:
Talked to over 1,000 children in assemblies about the importance of reading and writing
Attracted press coverage worth just shy of £13,000
Over £350 raised for charity and still selling books!
The book is now featured in nine libraries across the borough so that children can borrow Stockton Stories
Already sold 139 copies of the book sold since June
Worked in partnership with 8 local schools
On launch days footfall was up +14% WOW and +5% YOY
+138% increase in visitors to Wellington Square website YOY
+13% increase in social media followers
+27% increase in engagements on social media
Received letters from Her Majesty the Queen and the Prime Minister!
The campaign received 4 industry awards:
Gold award for Community Initiative at the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Maxi Global Awards
Not-for-profit Campaign of the Year at the North-East Marketing Awards
Sceptres Community Initiative of the Year Award
Silver award at the European Council of Shopping Places (ECSP) Solal Marketing Awards