Rebecca Humphreys – who works with families and children in the west end of Newcastle – was invited to join the BookTrust’s 100-year celebration as part of her work on the ‘Reading Rights’ campaign.
She joined a special star-studded celebration hosted by Her Majesty The Queen, Patron of BookTrust, at Clarence House.
Becky and her team use books as a tool to assess a child’s developmental needs – including to evaluate gross or fine motor skills and understand emotional wellbeing.
The health visitors in the team work closely with families in their area to encourage access to books and make them an essential part of their daily work – turning everyday reading into meaningful developmental insights.
Through using books and shared reading, children’s engagement, understanding, and responses can be observed, giving the team insight into language, cognitive and social development, providing insight into areas where a child may need support.
Rebecca, who leads Newcastle Hospitals’ family hub said:
“I was very honoured to be invited to spend the day at Clarence House for such a special celebration.
“It was a surreal moment meeting The Queen, especially being a Queen’s Nurse myself.
“I felt very proud to represent Newcastle’s 0-19 children and families service, and particularly for our achievements and passion to be acknowledged in this way.”
Julie Hayward, director of partnerships at BookTrust, said: “We were delighted to have Rebecca at our 100th birthday event at Clarence House.
“The team at the Newcastle Hospitals are a crucial supporter of our work to help families read together and it was important to have her there.
“Rebecca is a brilliant advocate for health visitors embedding early shared reading for children in their practice.”
The Reading Rights campaign is a flagship project of Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Waterstones Children’s Laureate for 2024–2026. 
