To celebrate the National Year of Reading in the UK, we are helping people to find enjoyment in reading with our partners, the Book Fairies UK and the Book Fairies South Wales.
We know that accessing books can be difficult for some and that sadly the Valleys have a lower level of literacy than the Welsh average, so we wanted to help. We leave free, mainly brand new books, often provided by the Book Fairies, across our area, on trains or at the stations to make books accessible and add some fun. Both children’s and adult’s books – recently The Times published research showing that for the first time, adults read more social media posts than books (eight full days and nights a year reading social media posts, compared to six days reading a book). Plus, that one in eight children aged 5 to 18 in the UK do not have a book of their own.
We launched the project during Community Rail Week 2026 and gave away over 40 books on the trains during the day. We also shared posts over the following week from partnership members and their favourite books.
We are aiming to have free bookshelves at a number of stations in our CRP area and to continue giving away books on the trains through the year.
We are also hoping to work with other Community Rail Partnerships to extend the project in their areas.
