I'm running the 2024 Oxford Half Marathon in support of The Story Museum because opening a book is still the closest thing I know to magic.

Come on, you know what I'm talking about. There's nothing like those first few moments with a book. Gazing at the cover. Hearing the creak of the spine. Inhaling the smell of pages freshly inked or sweet with age. Then that amazing feeling as you take your first few steps in a new world. 'The Mole had been working hard all morning, spring-cleaning his little home.' 'The island of Gont is a land famous for wizards.' 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.'

For 26% of children growing up in poverty in Oxford, that magic is urgently needed to improve their life chances and inspire a lifelong love of learning.

The Story Museum is a vital resource providing that magic, offering a creative learning programme which builds creativity, confidence, literacy and wellbeing from a child’s earliest days to their teenage years. The museum actively prioritises families in Oxford’s least served communities and ensures price is no barrier with a free-to-access programme of tailored support.

Help ensure that the magic of stories will always be there for young readers, expanding and enriching their worlds and developing oracy and literacy skills that will improve their life chances. Support The Story Museum.