Read Easy: Literacy scheme gets Graham, 69, reading for first time

Graham North is learning to read at the age of 69

Graham North is fulfilling a lifelong ambition by learning to read through an adult literacy scheme - at the age of 69.

"It's like a flower opening up," Graham tells me, describing the elation at finally being able to decipher words.

We are sitting at a table on a mezzanine floor at Hull Central Library, the venue for Graham's twice weekly Read Easy sessions.

"I have wanted to read all my life," he said.

"Now I'm finally doing it, I'm giving it a go, and I'm enjoying it."

Graham said "it's very important to me that I do this" after ill health prevented him from learning to read as a child.

He survived meningitis and has epilepsy as well as a hearing impairment.

Graham and his Read Easy coach Geoff Bell hard at work at Hull's Central Library

"I struggled all the way through school," he says. "Words on a page were all mumbo-jumbo to me. I was picked on. I was embarrassed that I couldn't read when everyone else could."

Graham left school at 15 unable to read. He undertook gardening jobs and a spell with a charity that helps disabled people. Over the years, he tells me, attempts were made to learn to read but progress was slow.

"In the past, that was beating me," he says, stressing the word 'that'.

I follow his gaze to a book, specially written for adult learners, open on the table. "Now I'm beating it."

Graham, left, pictured with his Read Easy coach Geoff Bell

His inability to read was, he says, a constant source of shame, robbing him of his independence and self worth.

"It was embarrassing asking other people to read for me," he says. "If a letter came for me, I'd have to take a photo of it on my phone and send it to my sister-in-law who would then ring and read it out to me."

That all changed on 19 November 2022 when he was directed, via another service, to Read Easy Hull and District, which is celebrating its first anniversary this month.

Showing how far he has come, Graham says: "Now, when I get sent a letter I get the drift of what is being said. You're never too old to learn new things, and if I can encourage other people to do the same, I will."

Graham, left, and Geoff meet at Hull's Central Library

Graham tells me his confidence has rocketed. He recently scripted a neighbour's eulogy and read it at the funeral.

"Everyone was proud of me," he says. "And I was proud of myself."

Graham is keen to also show me the progress he has made and begins reading aloud a few sentences from a short story about a man's treasured touring van.

He stumbles on only one word but takes it in his stride, chuckling: "If I could read every word, I wouldn't need my friend here, would I?"

Retired engineer Geoff grins.

"I knew as soon as Graham and I were paired together that we'd get on," he says. "We both have an optimistic outlook and share the same type of humour."

The Repair Shop's Jay Blades has told how he only started learning to read aged 51

Jay Blades, a presenter on BBC show Repair Shop, is among Read Easy's other success stories.

Speaking about the challenges of being unable to read in a recent documentary, Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51, he said: "I have taken a hospital letter that I knew was an important one into the street because I had no one to ask.

I said, 'Can you read this for me?' You miss a lot because you can't read."

Read Easy, a registered charity, was founded in 2010. Since then, groups have been established across the UK. It states more than 2.4 million adults in England struggle with reading.

Retired head teacher Alan Cornwall, who leads the Hull team, said although the programme uses phonics, the key to Read Easy's success is using "adult-focused" material, with links to real life scenarios.

"One story we use, for instance, is about a young man plucking up the courage in a fish and chip shop to ask a young lady to go out with him," he says.

Being unable to read "severely restricts" employment opportunities and has other serious consequences too, says Alan. "We've heard stories of people ending up in hospital because they couldn't read pill jar labels.

"We are about giving people the gift of reading."

Graham's perseverance is paying off

Each Read Easy "reader" is given a coach. Sessions are confidential and the programme takes up to 18 months to complete, but programmes go at the pace of the reader, explains Alan.

Back in the library, as Geoff and I discuss the scheme, Graham has shuffled around Scrabble tiles - used for reinforcing learning during sessions - to spell out how he is feeling at this moment.

"I am top of the class," it reads.