Award-winning author Tom Palmer visited Bodmin Leisure Centre during the last week of the summer holidays to talk to the children taking part in a Time2Move session.
Tom, who is based in Cornwall, has written more than 70 children’s books – including ‘Football Academy’ and ‘Foul Play’.
Described by Booktrust as “a true reading hero who has been responsible for motivating many thousands of young people to get into books”, Tom’s own reading journey had a very slow start.
“I struggled with reading when I was young,” he says on his website. “I didn’t have the stamina to read long books. My mum got me reading newspapers and magazines about football to build my reading up. I liked them: they were about what I was interested in. Football.”
That experience has fuelled Tom’s passion for encouraging children to discover the joy of books for themselves and he visits hundreds of schools, libraries, bookshops, museums and festivals every year. Now he has added Bodmin Leisure Centre to the list.
2026 is the National Year of Reading and GLL, the charitable social enterprise that runs Bodmin and more than 300 leisure centres and libraries nationwide, is an active supporter of the campaign to make reading an everyday part of people’s lives.
“Tom really engaged his young audience and, with a football quiz and a penalty shootout at the end, everyone enjoyed themselves,” said James Curry, Head of Service for GLL in Cornwall.
“As the largest public library and public leisure operator in the UK, it makes sense for GLL to demonstrate that activity and reading go well together.
“Tom Palmer’s background and his amazing achievements as an author, made him the perfect choice for our first leisure centre author talk in Cornwall and I’m very grateful to Andrew Varker and Cornwall Council’s library team for helping with arrangements.
“It’s been a great success.”
As a major National Year of Reading campaign partner, GLL commissioned new research into the reading habits of active Brits that clearly shows reading is considered a core part of the modern wellness toolkit.
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