The club’s popular mascot Mighty Mariner visited several local schools on behalf of Grimsby Town Foundation on World Book Day 2024 and gave away over 250 free books to children as part of the Premier League Primary Stars education programme.
The Foundation is one of 100 professional football club community organisations across England and Wales who deliver the Premier League Primary Stars programme in local schools and since 2017 more than 300,000 free books have been gifted to young people thanks to the programme’s partnership with the National Literacy Trust.
World Book Day promotes reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own as according to National Literacy Trust research, children who own their own books are much more likely to enjoy reading, read daily and read to relax.
National Literacy Trust research also found that one in eight children from disadvantaged backgrounds said they did not own a single book of their own at home, and the book ownership gap between them and more affluent peers is the largest seen in a decade.
Along with the free books, the Foundation also distributed over 500 free ticket vouchers to the primary schools for the Mariners’ Sky Bet League Two fixture against MK Dons on Tuesday night, subsidised by the Community Partnership Fund.
Grimsby Town Foundation’s Primary School Delivery Manager Ellie Kirk said, “We had an amazing day visiting four Primary Schools on World Book Day with our friend and Grimsby Town FC mascot, Mighty Mariner, donating tickets and books to each school’s library.
“It was great to hear the students reading and seeing all their fantastic costumes, we would like to thank the Premier League Primary Stars education programme for providing young people in our area with access to these free books.
“We’d also like to thank Pete Rose and Gavin Munson of 3Q Industrial Supplies for their support of the Community Partnership Fund and for making initiatives like this one possible.”
For more information about the Premier League Primary Stars funded provision offered by the Foundation, visit grimsbytownfoundation.co.uk/premier-league-primary-stars/
UTM
