Matty McNeil, Owain Fon Williams and Gareth Owen were among the stars who helped Merseyway celebrate Stockport's 'Reading Comes Alive' campaign, in association with 2008 the National Year of Reading.

Between 9-17 August, Merseyway, Stockport's Shopping Centre opened its doors to a host of stars in celebration of their back to school event 'Reading Comes Alive'. The event was brought to Stockport by Merseyway, in association with Stockport Library & Information Service and Stockport College, as part of 2008's National Year of Reading Campaign - a year-long celebration of reading in all its forms.

Throughout the week shoppers were joined by the likes of Key 103's chatty breakfast presenter Chelsea Norris and Gaz, Matty and Owain. Chelsea and the County stars welcomed shoppers in the Centre's Reading and Learning Zone and spoke to young children about the benefits of reading in celebration of the National Year of Reading's summer theme 'sport'.



Mark Maguire, Director of Stockport County comments "As a football club at the heart of the community, Stockport County were delighted to be part of Reading Comes Alive. Our players are looked up to by thousands of children in the local area and as such are strong role models who have a responsibility to encourage the development of all aspects of education; not least literacy. The club is extremely excited about our growing partnership with Merseyway Shopping Centre, and we look forward to working on further projects in the future which will lead to us having a positive impact on the local community."

The week highlighted the benefits of reading and learning to shoppers and enabled shoppers to find out more about reading and learning opportunities available in the Stockport area. Centre Manager Arnold Wilcox Wood of Merseyway comments "we are doing our bit for the local community by making reading and learning more fun and accessible to our shoppers. The week was a tremendous success in inspiring shoppers to get involved in literacy; we had more than two thousand shoppers attending the event and we even offered shoppers the chance to join the library right here in the shopping centre!"

To find out more about how you can get involved in this years National Year of Reading campaign visit www.yearofreading.org.uk.