Volunteers in Hammersmith and Fulham are racing the clock to put a brand-new book into the hands of every primary school pupil in the borough — with less than two weeks left to hit their crowdfunding target.
The Hammersmith & Fulham reading campaign, run by local literacy champions Reading Bridge, aims to buy around 8,500 books — worth approximately £80,000 — for pupils at the borough’s 35 primary schools as part of the National Year of Reading.
The campaign is raising money on the Spacehive crowdfunding platform and closes on 30 September. So far more than half of its £28,000 target has been pledged by 29 backers, with Hammersmith & Fulham Council contributing more than £14,000 of its own.
“Every bookshelf we build”
Reading Bridge is a community interest company based in west London. It wants to close what it calls the “book gap”: across the UK, fewer than nine in 10 primary-aged children own a book of their own, and the gap is wider still for children from lower-income homes.
Avni Vyas, Director of Reading Bridge, said: “At a time when children’s reading is at a 20-year low, every bookshelf we build and every book we gift brings us closer to a world where every child discovers the joy of reading.”
One of the teachers involved in the programme said the impact went beyond literacy: “It’s not just about reading, but about whole child development, improved self-esteem and confidence.”
The council says the campaign is part of its ambition to make Hammersmith and Fulham the best borough in which to grow up.
Reading corners and community heroes
This is not Reading Bridge’s first success. In April, the organisation was named runner-up in Selco’s 2026 Community Heroes competition, beating more than 300 other applicants to win £1,000 — which it spent on paint, shelving and storage to build reading corners in schools.
The H&F Reads campaign now needs the remainder of its target to unlock the funding already pledged and get the books to pupils. Residents can back the campaign on Spacehive before it closes on 30 September.
The council also supports community projects through its H&F Hive platform, which helps groups raise funds from residents, businesses and the council. A workshop for residents and community groups interested in setting up their own crowdfunding campaigns takes place on 7 October.
If the target is met, every child in the borough’s primary schools will own a book of their own — a small but, campaigners say, lasting step towards closing the book gap in west London.
Reporting based on the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
