Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
C’MON YOU READS
Marcus launches a kids’ book club
FOOTBALLER and children’s champ Marcus Rashford has teamed up with a publisher and a breakfast club charity to get kids reading.
Macmillan Children’s Books will donate 50,000 books to be distributed by the Magic Breakfast charity for the Marcus Rashford Book Club.
It has been set up by the England and Man Utd star to encourage and nurture a love of reading in disadvantaged kids.
It will launch in June with its first title, A Dinosaur Ate My Sister by Pooja Puri, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan.
Magic Breakfast ensures 170,000 children in 850 primary schools in England and Scotland start the day well-fed.
The free books will be divided between the schools Magic Breakfast supports and given to the pupils to own.
A survey by the National Literacy Trust in 2019 showed that 383,775 children did not own a single book.
Marcus, 23, a campaigner against child poverty, said: “For too long, the joy of reading has been restricted by whether or not a family has the contingency budget to purchase books.
“The children who often miss out are those on Free School Meals and users of Breakfast Clubs, who more than likely need fiction, and non-fiction, to escape reality from time to time.
“We haven’t been affording these children the option of reading for fun, but that changes today. I’m really happy to be partnering with Magic Breakfast to get our books in the hands of children that need them most.”
A JUBILANT army of 4,000 football fans went to Wembley yesterday as part of Covid-19 test events.
It was the biggest football crowd in the UK since the first lockdown began in March last year.
Frontline workers and nearby residents were given prized places for the Leicester City v Southampton FA Cup semi-final, won 1-0 by the Foxes.
Fans took a lateral flow test at a testing centre no more than 24 hours before the game in the 90,000-seater stadium.
They were also asked to have two PCR [polymerase chain reaction] checks – before and five days after the game.
It could pave the way for 21,000 fans at the FA Cup final on May 15.
Student Anna Chapman, who lives close to Wembley, in North West London, was one of the lucky ones who landed a ticket. She spoke of her delight at getting back to experience “the aura of a stadium and the emotions”.
NHS worker Arash Saadat, 27, who works at nearby Northwick Park
Hospital, said: “It’s been very straightforward. You had your test results emailed within the hour.” Fathma Shabbir, 25, who works in ICU at
Ealing Hospital, said: “It’s a nice way of being rewarded. It was incredibly easy.”
Ex-england footballer Karen Carney told how “special” it was to have fans back. She said: “People look like they are at their first-ever game.”
BBC Radio Five Live football correspondent John Murray told listeners: “I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a proper reaction.”
Part of the Government Events Research Programme, the games will test the impact of crowds on infection rates. Along with the semi final and final, the other pilot matches to be played at Wembley will be the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, between CRUCIBLE Ronnie O’sullivan
Man City and Spurs. It will have 8,000 fans, with modified distancing, ventilation and rapid testing on entry.
The behaviour of the crowds will be observed, and journeys to and from events will be monitored.
“This is a world-leading study,” said Prof Paul Monks, chief scientific adviser at the Dept for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. “Results will determine how quickly we emerge from lockdown. It’s exciting and daunting.”
Music lovers in Liverpool will enjoy
live gigs at pilot events without social distancing. A night at the Circus Nightclub on April 30 will not require masks but capacity will be reduced. A concert audience at Sefton Park on May 2 will need to provide proof of a negative test.
The first event was meant to be on Friday but Liverpool’s Hot Water Comedy Club pulled out after saying it had received 4,000 angry messages that it had been linked to “vaccine passports”.
Environment Secretary George Eustice warned it is “too early” to say whether the UK remains on track for reopening all indoor hospitality on May 17.
He told the BBC’S Andrew Marr Show: “We’re being a bit cautious... we have to see what the impacts are of the easements we have just made.”
Shadow Culture Secretary and Spurs fan Jo Stevens will be at Wembley to roar on her side next weekend. Ms Stevens, who ended up in hospital with Covid, said: “Like all fans I’m desperate to get back into stadiums.”
She urged the Government to adopt Labour’s plan to “protect the great British summer” by publishing results from the pilots, sorting out test/trace and quarantining arrivals from all countries, with exemptions for some professions. A total of 632 tickets were sold for the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Saturday, to see Ronnie O’sullivan start his World Snooker Championship title defence.
The final is to be played in front of a capacity crowd of 980 on May 3. World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn said: “I’m going to put this down as one of our greatest moments.”
The pilots will decide Step Four of the lockdown roadmap, when the Government hopes to lift all limits on social contact, no earlier than June 21.
The Dept for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said “Covid passports” will not be used during pilots announced so far.
Public health expert Prof Iain Buchan, of Liverpool University, estimated the risk of an outbreak after a trial as “about one in several thousand”.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it would inform how to ensure “future big events can take place safely”.