Kingston Libraries has made a successful bid for £9,000 of DCMS funding available through The Reading Agency to set up and run Reading Friends in Kingston.

As part of its continuing work to keep residents and communities connected, Kingston Council will use the funding to launch a new service that allows those who are isolated or at risk of loneliness to benefit from the borough's library services.

Reading Friends is a national scheme that tackles loneliness and social isolation by bringing people together to read, share stories, chat and have fun. First launched in 2017, the scheme has proven particularly valuable for many across the country to overcome isolation for those who are shielding or in vulnerable groups.

Cllr Rebekah Moll, Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy and Culture, said: "We are very excited to have this opportunity to set up Reading Friends. We will be working with a range of partners to recruit and train Reading Befrienders and to roll this offer out to residents across the borough. The current situation means more people than ever before in our communities are at risk of loneliness and this timely scheme will help combat this.

"This is just one of many initiatives that Kingston Libraries are running to ensure we support our residents in the best way possible, in particular while buildings are closed and many services have moved online. We have also recently completed phase one of our library review, which is transforming our services to ensure they are fit for the future and provide support that our communities need."

The pandemic means face-to-face sessions have for now been replaced by online groups and phone calls. A Reading Befriender holds regular one-to-one or small group sessions that begin with the reading of a poem, short story, letter or other piece of text to spark conversation and connect people socially.

The funding will pay for teleconferencing to ensure residents can join in without paying for phone calls, the collation of reminiscence materials to spark stories, postage to send materials out, and some devices and data for those that may otherwise not be able to join in.

More information about the service and the launch will be posted on the library website soon.