Founder of Southfields Reading Charity Meets Queen Camilla

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Learn to Love to Read makes call for volunteers to step up


Queen Camilla meets Teresa Harris. Picture: ©AELTC

July 14, 2023

Teresa Harris, the founder and trustee of a local reading charity based in Southfields, was introduced to Her Majesty the Queen at Wimbledon this week.

Queen Camilla is known for her passion for reading and is Patron of several national literacy charities and her Reading Room is a thriving online book community.

Teresa says that it was a huge privilege to be presented to her at The Championships, Wimbledon on Wednesday (12 July). It gave her the opportunity to share how this local literacy charity builds reading confidence and enthusiasm here in the local area.

Learn to Love to Read works to give parents the motivation, skills and confidence to support their children’s reading at home. The charity introduces babies and toddlers to vital early literacy skills - running classes, distributing reading packs and delivering helpful messaging and advice. It recruits and train volunteers to offer one-to-one support to primary-age children building partnerships with local schools, children’s centres and charities to give children the opportunity to have frequent positive reading experiences.

The Wimbledon Foundation, established in 2013, is the charity of The All England Lawn Tennis Club and The Championships. Its mission is to champion opportunities for all and make a positive difference to people's lives. Learn to Love to Read was one of their first grantees, helping with initial growth, and the Foundation has continued to offer further support at key moments in the charity’s development.

As the school year comes to a close, Learn to Love to Read is looking ahead and planning for September. If you live in Wandsworth, could you spare 60 to 90 minutes a week to help local children in your community learn to love to read?

The more volunteers the charity has, the more children it can help and it would love to hear from you. You can apply online on its website or email matilda@l2l2r.org with any questions.

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