A charity drive to provide free books to children has been launched across Shropshire including Oswestry Leisure Centre.

The initiative is part of a larger campaign by the Shropshire Community Leisure Trust (SCLT), which manages five leisure centres in the county.

The trust is partnering with national charity, the Children’s Book Project, to gather books for underprivileged children.

From October 7 to 31, people are encouraged to donate good-quality children’s books at the leisure centres.

These books will then be distributed to children across the UK who don’t have access to their own books.

The Children’s Book Project aims to address 'book poverty', recognising that book ownership can significantly improve a child’s reading fluency and educational progression.

The other participating leisure centres are Shrewsbury Sports Village, The Quarry Swimming and Fitness Centre, Market Drayton Swimming and Fitness Centre, and SpArC Bishops Castle.

Rhys Collins, partnership manager for Shropshire Community Leisure Trust, said: "We’re delighted to be working with the Children’s Book Project once again.

"Last year’s book drive was a big success, with our customers and employees donating hundreds of good quality books, which got a second lease of life when they were handed out to grateful kids nationwide.

"This is an important cause, so we would encourage everyone to bring their spare children’s books to our centres and play your part in giving a child the gift of reading."

Kirstin Knell, corporate partnerships manager for the Children’s Book Project, said: "We are so pleased that Shropshire Community Leisure Trust is collecting books again for us for the third year running, helping us on our mission to eradicate book poverty amongst children across the UK.

"Families can make a huge impact by donating books they’ve grown out of at their local centres.

"We promise that these books will get to the children who need them most.

"Thank you to everyone who takes the time to donate to us."

Founded in 2019, the Children’s Book Project won the Queen’s Award for Volunteering in 2020 and has donated more than one million books across the UK.

Peter Davis, leisure services manager for Shropshire Council, said: "It’s great to see the trust supporting the Children’s Book Project once again, it was pleasing to see so many donations during my site visits last year.

"On behalf of Shropshire Council, I would urge all visitors to the trust-operated centres to drop off their unwanted children’s books for them to be distributed where they are most needed."

For more details about the trust’s sites, visit the Shropshire Leisure Centres website.