A Kensington Christmas Story: The Friends Celebrate and Share the Joy of Reading in partnership with The Queen’s Reading Room

Nov 25

2 min read

The Friends of Chelsea & Westminster Hospital are incredibly touched and grateful to have been chosen by the Queen's Reading Room charity and Opportunity Kensington to benefit from their new Christmas project. Launched at a special event on November 21st with broadcaster and Queen's Reading Room Trustee Gyles Brandreth, and running for five weeks, ‘A Kensington Christmas Story: Read, Celebrate and Share the Joy of Reading’ will serve as a book donation drop-off point on Kensington High Street, benefitting the Friends’ library and book trolley service for the hospital’s patients and staff. The campaign marks the first-ever physical activation carried out by The Queen’s Reading Room since the charity was established in February 2023.

Wrapped in traditional festive colours and trims, the striking giant book installation will sit beside the flower stand at St Mary Abbot Church, on the corner where Kensington High Street and Kensington Church Street meet.

The impressive display has been specially fitted with a large Christmas present box, where visitors to the attraction can post book donations, both old and new. Visitors are also encouraged to ‘pay it forward’ by leaving supportive messages for the next reader. Donated books will then be distributed to the Friends through The Queen’s Reading Room network.

Chair of the Friends Hilary O’Neill said:

“This is a wonderful initiative from The Queen’s Reading Room charity, and we feel privileged to benefit from this campaign. We believe in the power of books to foster social connection in hospitals and relieve boredom and loneliness for patients who may spend days or weeks on the ward. The donations we receive thanks to the ‘Kensington Christmas Story’ project will be a huge boost to our library service, and we are so grateful to The Queen’s Reading Room charity for its support.”

CEO of The Queen’s Reading Room Vicki Perrin said:

‘As a charity, we understand that reading is an enormously precious vehicle for social connection, so we are delighted to be partnering with Opportunity Kensington to launch our first-ever book donation campaign, benefitting the Friends of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital’s library and trolley service. There’s something so uniquely exciting about picking up a book you know somebody else has cherished, but above all else, we really hope that many people will be inspired to stop by and donate a book they have really connected with, to help spread the joy of reading this Christmas.

To donate books to the Friends Library, you can visit the installation on Kensington Church Street until 28th December, or just drop them off at the hospital (email us to arrange delivery).