About us

Maidenhead’s Big Read is an annual event, held at various venues in Town, that aims to engage and unite local school children of all ages and backgrounds with reading, with a particular focus on those children who are currently missing out on all that a love of books can provide.

A message from our Patron

Dame Katherine Grainger

Our Team

Stephan Stephan
Chair

Helal Stephan, known to many as Stephan Stephan, is a retired Civil Engineer and Project Manager. Twice Past President and a member of Maidenhead Thames Rotary Club, he promotes educational events & Rotary led RBWM Primary Schools competitions.  He also coordinates with local Primary Schools in Maidenhead for Readers who visit schools weekly to encourage children to practise reading.
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Stephan is passionate about children becoming fluent in reading and love of reading at a very early stage to favourably shape their future.

Cathy Ison
Vice Chair

Cathy has been an avid reader since she was a teenager and has found reading to be a joy and a refuge during recent times. She has volunteered as a Rotary Reader in Schools for the last three years and enjoys interacting with the children through reading. She is fully supportive of the aims of the Big Read, particularly nurturing a passion for books and reading in all ages.

Cathy worked as a microbiologist at Imperial College London and Public Health England, where her main interests were teaching and research, and is now retired. She is a longstanding member of Maidenhead Athletic Club and is currently its President, is involved in coaching and is a track and field official. She is also Chair of the Braywick Sports Association, which brings together representatives from all activities across Braywick Park to work together.

Tessa Allanson
Member

Tessa worked in the publishing industry for 16 years, producing illustrated non-fiction books. She liaised between printers in the Far East, editorial and sales teams, and customers all over the world to ensure books were printed and delivered on time.

She has always been passionate about books and is now a volunteer reader in a local primary school. She would like every child to experience the joy of being truly engrossed in a book, desperate to read just one more page to find out what happens next, and that is why Tessa is delighted to be involved in Maidenhead's Big Read.

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Yash Maudgil
Treasurer

Yash firmly believes that being able to read well is the foundation towards good education, allowing all children to achieve their full potential. He supports Maidenhead's Big Read project as its aim is to introduce children to reading in an informal and entertaining environment and  to develop a love of reading in their own time.

Yash is a qualified and practising accountant in Maidenhead, and has volunteered to be the Treasurer to ensure that the funds are appropriately expended to give value for money. He is also a member of Maidenhead Rotary Club.

Sarah Street
Member

As a child, Sarah was lucky to have someone who was always happy to read or tell her a story. This instilled her love of books and reading, and she passionately believes that every child and adult should be encouraged to read or tell stories in whatever forum they enjoy.

Her career was in early years education. She carried this passion into her work, always ensuring that children had access to stories and reading material enabling them to use their imaginations to carry themselves into places of fun and make believe. 
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Maidenhead Big Read encourages and promotes reading and Sarah is proud to be involved, as well as being a member of Maidenhead Bridge Rotary Club.

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Lara Edmonstone-West
Member

As a parent of two young children, Lara values the importance of reading as a key life skill. The ability to escape into a book supports mental health and self-confidence. This has become even more paramount as the coronavirus situation disrupts the normality of day-to-day life and makes access to reading and books even harder to achieve.

Lara is pleased to be involved in Maidenhead’s Big Read so she can support this super initiative within the local community, and help it blossom further during challenging times.

Derek Philip-Xu
Webmaster

Derek has been involved in education for around 18 years, initially teaching English to primary, secondary and adult learners in Japan, Spain and China. He originally planned to teach for a year and take a break from his initial career of Chartered Surveying. But he never returned to surveying and has remained keenly involved in education ever since. He also managed to find the time to complete masters degrees in Applied Linguistics and Educational Research.

Now that he's based in the UK, Derek is putting his writing skills to good use and works for an educational publisher in London. In addition, he also runs his own copywriting and editorial services business.

In his spare time, Derek is a (mostly) enthusiastic runner, and is on the committee of Maidenhead Athletic Club as its Chairman.