A WOMAN from Basingstoke is raising funds to supply the children's ward in Basingstoke hospital with brand new books.

Becky Parsons, 36, runs Parsons Books in Basingstoke, in partnership with Usborne Books. Becky's goal from fundraising is to supply brand new books for reading and learning to the play team, based on Basingstoke Hospital's children's ward.

Becky said: "Everyone gets worn down in life, even books get worn, but hospital books should be replaceable. This fundraiser will supply books that can be wiped clean, get worn down and replaced with a duplicate, to continue the adventures all day long."

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Usborne’s Community Book Pledge is a nationwide initiative to help communities across the UK and Europe benefit from more books, boosting literacy levels by encouraging reading for pleasure.

With the help of local businesses, thousands of communities across the UK and Europe have been able to fill their bookshelves and raise a new generation of confident and engaged readers. Supporting businesses will receive an acknowledgement by being sent a donor’s poster to proudly display at their workplace.

Becky said: "With the help of local businesses, we are aiming to collect £1,000 in donations for the community project, and Usborne will then generously provide an additional £600 worth of free books on top of this. This money will allow us to completely transform our community's reading resources and allow all children to have access to a wide variety of high-quality fiction and non-fiction books to choose from and enjoy.

"You can support us by pledging any amount of money towards buying new books for our community project and all donation amounts will be gratefully received."

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Becky added: "Currently one in five children do not have books, which is decreasing the national literacy level. As the cost-of-living crisis continues and poverty gets worse, books are going to be harder and harder for people to be able to afford.

"The £1,000 I want to raise will give £600 in free books, which will be a lot of books which the children at the hospital can enjoy."

More information can be found at usborne.com/gb/partner/parsonsbooks_bas, or on Facebook at facebook.com/parsonsbooksbas/. Information on how to donate can be found at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/basingstokeplayteam-bookpledge.