Literacy charity Bookmark has appointed Anna Croghan as its new head of volunteering.

She joins in February from Age UK, where she has the same role.

Croghan has been in senior volunteer management roles at Age UK for the last six years. She has also worked in corporate relations at Young Epilepsy and spent two year as a partnership manager at SeeAbility.

She replaces Sacha Hamed as head of volunteering at Bookmark, which recruits volunteers to spend an hour a week reading stories and playing games with primary school age children.

“We have an ambitious target to deliver 50,000 reading sessions to children across the UK in 2024 and Anna’s appointment is key to realising this goal,” said Bookmark chief executive Emily Jack.

“Our volunteers tell us it’s our community and the difference they are able to make which keeps them coming back to deliver more one-to-one sessions.

“We know Anna’s experience will help to further enrich our volunteering offer and strengthen our support as we look ahead to positively impact more children’s lives through the joy of reading.”

Croghan added: “I am honoured to join Bookmark to build on the great work they have done with volunteers to empower every child through literacy.

“There are exciting volunteer involvement opportunities ahead and I look forward to working with the team to strengthen and grow the volunteer programme so we can tackle the challenges poor literacy creates for individuals and our society.”

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