Rochdale celebrates successful National Reading year

Louis Ferrante, Terry Piggott and Jonathan Douglas commemorate Rochdale's successful participation in the National Year of Reading.

Last year Rochdale enjoyed a successful National Year of Reading, promoting the importance of reading across the town and helping to prove that literacy can change lives.

The Year culminated with a literacy celebration event at the Town Hall, which was attended by Louis Ferrante, an ex-New York gang leader and mafia insider who read his first book in a maximum security prison while serving an 8 ½ year sentence.

Mr Ferrante has published a book of memoirs that documents his journey from a life of crime to that of a professional writer and came to Rochdale to share his remarkable story.

He said: “In prison I had a lot of time to re-evaluate my life and how I had become such a low life that for the first time in my life I began to regret the things that I had done and the people I had hurt.

“I realised that I had a choice to make. I could choose to be different and lead a law abiding life if I truly wanted to. The day I decided to be different, was the day my whole life changed. When I started to read I realised that I could escape beyond the prison walls. I read about people who had made something of themselves and I started to believe that it was not too late for me. From reading a book I began to think I could write book, and so that’s what I did.”

Research suggests there is a link between poor literacy and crime, with many prisoners not being able to read. Non readers are also more likely to be unemployed, less likely to vote and more likely to smoke and suffer depression.

Fifteen local people from all ages, backgrounds and walks of life also shared their inspiring stories and hopes for the future; describing how improved literacy has changed the lives of older and younger people, people with learning disabilities, mental health needs, physical or sensory impairments, asylum seekers, non English speakers and carers.

Kris Owen, 21, from Heywood, outlined his love for reading Braille but also explained his difficulty in accessing the library and the books he would most enjoy reading because of his visual impairment.

Kris was pointed in the direction of the borough's mobile library which has over 2500 books (including adult, children, fiction and non fiction), including books in Urdu and Benagli and talking books and subtitled videos for visually impaired people

Also speaking at the event was Terry Piggott, Executive Director at Rochdale Council and Jonathan Douglas, Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust.

Mr Piggott outlined some of the year’s major achievements, including how primary school children across Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale are overcoming social and economic barriers and are reading in line with the national averages. He said: “Reading is a fundamental skill and should be accessible to everyone. We need to make sure that people across Rochdale Borough have the opportunity to develop these skills and benefit from the social and economic gains that can be achieved be by those who can read.”

Mr Douglas added: “What has been happening in Rochdale Borough has been extraordinary – there is real evidence that work here has succeeded in transforming communities and people’s lives.”