READ Easy local volunteer groups provide free one-to-one reading coaching for adults.

The sessions are designed around the client to read at their own pace, without pressure.

More than seven per cent of adults in England never learnt to read at school. There are many reasons why some people find it difficult to learn to read when they are children, but it is never too late to learn.

Read Easy is suitable for any adult who wants to learn to read or who needs more confidence with their reading.

It’s a flexible, confidential, one-to-one scheme, so that one can learn quietly and comfortably at one’s own pace.

Anyone who can read fluently themselves can apply to become a volunteer reading coach with their local group.

After an initial selection procedure, volunteers will be given training and then matched up with those who want to learn.

Read Easy coaches and their readers use the phonics-based Turning Pages manuals as their main resource.

The manuals are easy to use and, with instructions for the coach on every page, enable anyone who can read to coach someone else.

The programme also includes lots of reading books, especially written for adults, which can be read alongside the manuals.

Readers and their coaches will be given a choice of places to meet, so that they can choose somewhere that suits them both.

All reading sessions take place in quiet, discreet venues, so that people can work without being overlooked, but where there will always be other people around.

Reading sessions last half an hour and take place twice a week.

Some people complete the course in as little as a year, while others take more than two years. The important thing is that everyone can learn at their own pace without feeling rushed.

Certificates are presented at intervals to recognise progress.

For more information, contact Alan at Read Easy Basingstoke on 07592 450789 or Basingstoke@readeasy.org.uk.

Alternatively, go to readeasy.org.uk.