Our work in the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital
We’ve been providing books and stories to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter since 2015, and to date we’ve given children here over 5,000 books.
Serving the needs of a wide area, much of which is rural, the hospital treats many children who have often travelled a long way, meaning they can find themselves far away from home. There’s every chance they haven’t arrived with a fully packed bag, so families are often relieved to find a wonderful array of books to help distract and comfort their child in difficult moments.
“I have just spent 2 nights in the RD&E children’s ward in Exeter with my 15-month old daughter and felt compelled to let you know what an amazing thing it was to find one of your bookcases filled to the brim with fab books!
Mum of a young patient
It was an unplanned admission to hospital and therefore we didn’t have any of my daughter’s favourite things with her. It was a great thing to not only find the bookcase but for it to have her favourite book Dear Zoo in it. I read it to her whilst she was awake and she instantly recognised it. I have to admit that I read one of the young adult books too whilst Zoe was sleeping!”
Our highly experienced storyteller, Mike, thoroughly enjoys his visits to Devon, and he’ll often involve traditional tales from the South West to enthral children and their families. We always receive such lovely, warm feedback about Mike – he quickly builds a rapport, puts children at ease and, more often than not, has them roaring with laughter!
“Mike is absolutely FANTASTIC! He is so adaptable and at ease with the children. Even the reluctant teenagers join in (pretending not to!). His range of stories is great and often with a local theme. There is no predictability to his sessions which we think is wonderful. We are lucky to have Mike!”
Julia Allen, Hospital School Head Teacher
We couldn’t agree more!