Three dedicated volunteers from Banbury praised for their hard work in helping school children

Three dedicated volunteers from Banbury were among many others to be praised for their hard work in helping school children.

Peter Norris, Tim Haynes and Sandra Selby are all volunteer reading helpers for the Oxfordshire charity ARCh (Assisted Reading for Children) - and the charity held an end of summer term celebration to say thank you to its volunteers.

Special guest at the event was Deputy Lieutenant Jane Cranston who presented awards to long-standing volunteers and supporters.

Peter and Sandra have both completed 10 years of volunteering, and Tim has completed five years.

Over one hundred attendees also enjoyed a presentation from another local charity – Oxfordshire Mind – followed by tea and cake.

A spokesperson for ARCh said: "ARCh provides trained volunteers to primary schools across Oxfordshire. They work one-to-one with selected children, providing twice weekly 'happy reading' sessions, inspiring them to develop a life enhancing love of reading and achieving fantastic results, with noted improvements seen also in self-confidence, communication skills and well-being.

Jane Rendle, co-founder of ARCh, said “We value our volunteers highly and it is important to us that they gain as much from their ARCh experience as the children do.

"During the past two years there has been so much disruption to children’s lives – at school and at home. Many children’s reading ability, communication, social skills and general well-being has suffered as a result.

"We are fortunate to have so many dedicated volunteers helping to address this in Oxfordshire but we do need many more to join us and we are accepting applications for the new academic year now.”

For more information visit website www.archoxfordshire.org.uk