Counters

Target Who Books Donated to Schools: 9673
Inspired Donations by Other People: 416

email: targetwho@virginmedia.com Twitter: twitter.com/Targetwho
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TargetWho

Donating 11,000 Books to School Libraries to support Children's Literacy

Tuesday 24 September 2013

The Show Must Go On!



We are Target Who and we have not had the best start to the new school year!

Down in Hampshire Andrew moved house at the beginning of September; a move complicated by the presence of a few thousand books in his garage.  The move hasn’t gone smoothly and he has been without a telephone line and internet access all month and there is still no sign of the problem being sorted.  To further complicate things he can only get a mobile phone signal when he stands at the very bottom of his garden!  it has led to some text message conversations taking many hours! 

Here in Gloucester I’ve had even worse luck.  A problem with my eyesight over the bank holiday turned out to be a detached retina in my left eye.  It resulted in laser surgery and it will be 8-10 weeks before my sight returns properly.  I’ve had to spend a couple of weeks lying flat and my poor vision is obviously limiting what I can currently do.  I’ve sadly had to cancel plans for a number of school visits, and book delivery runs to Cardiff and Essex have both been delayed.  I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

My vision is impaired - I can not see!
However it’s not all bad news.   With my good eye, a laptop, a telephone and the help of some wonderful family and friends I’ve managed to organise several deliveries and books for Norfolk, Ipswich and Llanelli have all left Gloucester this week.  I’m back in touch with the custodian of the Manchester books and they should hopefully reach schools soon too. 


Meanwhile in Kent, Andy has delivered to his first school, with others soon to follow and in Sussex Rob will begin distributing later this week.  

I should also have BIG NEWS soon for the rest of you that are all patiently waiting.  Keep watching the blog and I’ll inform you all as soon as things are finalised.

We are Target Who and despite all our current problems the counters continue to slowly climb. We hope to be able to accelerate the rate in which they increase real soon!

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Kia Ora New Zealand



We are Target Who and with the help of our friends we are freely distributing books to schools wherever we can reach.  Small bundles passed from person to person, slowly working their way to their chosen destination.  Some of our books travel for thousands of miles before reaching schools.  Those of you following our Facebook page may have noticed a small bundle recently arrived in New Zealand for distribution by my good friend Megan Gourlay.

 
Megan told us:

Kia Ora from New Zealand Turns out Target Who has a far reaching audience! I delivered a bundle of books Nova Montessori School in Christchurch last week. This school has had significant damage from the February earthquakes we had here 3 years ago which is why I chose this school - and both my Godsons go to this school. I also gave them my collection of Artemis Fowl novels - they were all so excited!!

The school kindly provided a photo of some of their pupils with the books who can now enjoy an adventure with one of the first seven Doctors.  

 
We are Target Who and as you read this many more books are slowly moving around.  Maybe one of them is heading your way.

Target Who would like to thank Megan Gourlay for her support in our mission.

Thursday 12 September 2013

The Dalek Invasion of Barwell



We are Target Who and earlier in the year we shared with you some of the fabulous work of the talented pupils of Barwell Church of England Academy.  In this third and final installment of photographs the school has been invaded by Daleks!  Luckily the Doctor was on hand to ensure that no children were exterminated!







 

Some of the class with the new additions to their school library
 

Target Who would like to thank the children of Barwell Church of England Academy for sharing some their amazing work.

Monday 9 September 2013

With a Little Help From Our Friends



We are Target Who and in our crazy mission to spread our books out across the country we are receiving lots of help.  Help from family, friends, work colleagues, other Doctor Who fans and teachers.  All are working with us to ensure our books reach the school libraries, where a new generation of Doctor Who fans will discover and be enthralled by them.  Here we will break down one such journey to demonstrate just how people are aiding us.

One of the earliest and most supportive people to contact us was Nicola Gwilym, School Mentor at Dovedale Junior School in Liverpool.  We received a lovely email of support on the very morning of our very first delivery.  It ensured my day started with a smile as I nervously returned to my childhood school with our first bundle of books.  Shortly before the summer break began, Dovedale Junior School received a small parcel of books, and here is the crazy journey it took up the country to reach them.

1. The books were purchased in Essex and Andrew collected them and took them back to Fordingbridge in Hampshire.

2. David then travelled down from Gloucester and collected a large portion of the books to form the Gloucestershire Hub.

3. The nearest member of our group to Liverpool was Dave Pashby up in Leeds. Several hundred books were taken up to Birmingham by David’s wife Emma,who was meeting relatives for a 40th Birthday weekend treat in a hotel.  She passed the books to her sister Donna, who transported them up to Rotherham where she lives.  From here Dave collected them, forming a Leeds Hub.

4. Dave now asked for help around his workplace.  He managed to find someone working over in the firms Manchester office called Jon who lived in Runcorn willing to help, but how to get the books from Leeds to Manchester?

5. Dave then found a maintenance worker named Darren who volunteered to take the books over to Manchester.  This caused a slight unforeseen problem though! The company has two offices in Manchester and Darren mistakenly delivered them to the wrong one! This was sorted with the help of Liam who transported them to the correct Manchester office and passed the books to Jon.

6. Nicola travelled to Jon’s house and and collected the books along with two more sets for other Liverpool schools, which she then helped deliver.

So the full route is:
Andrew -> David -> Emma -> Donna -> Dave -> Darren -> Liam -> Jon -> Nicola -> Dovedale Junior School



Nicola told us:
We asked in assembly this morning for any Dr Who fans to meet with me - but to avoid a deluge I asked only for SERIOUS fans, ones who could name at least five of the Drs! I had twelve pupils who met with me and I told them the story of TargetWho. They were very excited and it was interesting how many of their parents were equally die-hard fans. Several of the children had some Dr Who books at home but only one had seen a book like the ones you presented to them.

I gave them each a picture quiz to do - they have to name as many of the Doctors and put them in order. I will mark them and maybe give them all a prize next week.



I have given each of them the task of suggesting ways in which we can use the books to encourage reluctant readers. They are meeting with me next week with their ideas and then we will put them into practise. All eight books have been given out to some of the pupils and you asked about the effect it had on them! Two of the boys asked if they could stay in and read the book at lunchtime, another lad was walking out of school towards his mum reading the book as he went. Some of the pupils who met with me I have never worked with before but there was genuine excitement about being involved in a new venture - to use Dr Who to get others to read. Who knows where this might lead the group?



During the course of communication with Nicola, we discovered that John Lennon was a former pupil of Dovedale Junior School.  Die hard Doctor Who fans will know that The Beatles made a cameo appearance in a 1965 episode of Doctor Who, singing Ticket to Ride on the TARDIS Time/Space Visualiser.  Now that gives me another idea …
Target Who would like to thank everyone involved in the transportation of these books to Liverpool

.