Kingston University publishing expert Professor Alison Baverstock awarded MBE in King's Birthday Honours

Posted Friday 14 June 2024

Reverend Professor Alison Baverstock has been awarded with an MBE in the latest King's Birthday Honours.

A publishing expert from Kingston University, who has been the driving force behind a shared reading initiative set up to support Armed Forces families, has been awarded an MBE in the latest King's Birthday Honours.

The Reverend Professor Alison Baverstock has received the honour in recognition of her charitable work supporting Armed Forces families through the Reading Force scheme.

Launched in 2011, Reading Force is designed to bring Forces children and families closer together. It encourages family members, sometimes separated for long periods due to parents being on deployment, to read the same book, discuss their thoughts on the storyline and then use scrapbooks to improve communication skills, providing a welcome distraction from the challenges of military life.Reading Force has distributed around 250,000 books to military families since its launch in 2011.

Professor Baverstock, who joined Kingston University in 2002 and co-launched its MA Publishing course four years later, said the scheme had also been instrumental in supporting children to develop literacy skills. "I've always been hugely passionate about literacy because, if you don't have those skills, opportunities in life can be so compromised." she said. "This scheme gets the whole family reading in a really engaging and interesting way."

Endorsed by both the former Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter, and his successor Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, Reading Force has distributed more than 250,000 books since it was established. The scheme is open to all British Armed Forces, reserves, cadets, veterans and ex-Forces children and families worldwide, as well as Service families who have been bereaved or are separated by relationship breakdown.

Professor Baverstock has had her own first-hand experience of military life and the upheavals and disruptions it can bring since meeting her solider husband Neil at the University of St Andrews when she was just 19. They later married and had four children, with life in the military seeing the family experiencing 18 moves in 30 years.

Using shared reading had helped the couple stay connected in the early days of their relationship when her husband was deployed overseas, Professor Baverstock said. "It was an emotional experience hearing his voice on the phone when he was ringing from a war zone, and it could sometimes be hard to know what to talk about, so we started reading the same book," she recalled. "It helped keep us in touch and prompted deeper conversations. Realising the benefits, we carried it on once our children were born."

Reverend Professor Alison Baverstock's Reading Force is now supported by Patrons including internationally renowned author Sir Michael Morpurgo.

Reading Force was originally funded by Kingston University, Hampshire County Council and Rushmoor Borough Council. It was launched by Professor Baverstock when she was based with her children at the Aldershot Army base. She distributed the first ever scrapbooks to schools in the area before gradually expanding the scheme to be adopted worldwide. Now a charity, patrons include internationally renowned author Sir Michael Morpurgo.

Professor Baverstock has also been instrumental in the success of another shared reading initiative – Kingston University's Big Read. Now in its tenth year, the award-winning scheme sees all new students at the University sent a book chosen by a panel headed by Professor Baverstock shortly before they embark on their studies, so they have something in common to discuss as they settle into campus life. This year's eagerly anticipated Big Read title has just been announced, with Everything is Everything – a memoir written by BBC newsreader and journalist Clive Myrie – selected by the panel.

Professor Baverstock is also leading the launch of a new support group at Kingston University later this month for staff who are members of Forces families. "It's being set up for staff who previously served in the military and partners or children of someone in the military. It will provide a connection and support system for University colleagues so we can share experiences and ideas," she said.

"Society is divided into two; those who know about the military and what that life entails and those who don't. This will be a safe space for people to get together and feel supported during what can be a really challenging, yet rewarding, way of life."

In addition to Professor Baverstock, there were also five Kingston University alumni recognised in the King's Birthday Honours. Dr Adam Read, who completed a PhD in Environmental and Earth Resources Management in 2001, has been awarded an MBE for services to waste and resources management.

Forensic chemistry alumna Genevieve Bent and former history student Anne Harris also both received MBE for services to education and for services to seriously ill children and their families, respectively.

There were also British Empire Medals (BEM) for both Emma Hammett and David Jacobson. Management studies alumna Ms Hammett was honoured for services to first aid training, while geography alumnus was recognised for services to the community of Surbiton in the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames.