About us

Maidenhead’s Big Read is an annual event, held at various venues in Maidenhead, 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 and a volunteer at Maidenhead Library. 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.

Richard Garner
Treasurer

Richard joined the MBR committee a few months ago and we are delighted to have him on board.

Derek Philip-Xu
Webmaster & Editor

Derek has been involved in education for over 20 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, the last 10 years being in educational publishing. He also managed to find the time to complete masters degrees in applied linguistics and educational research.

Derek puts his publishing skills to good use running his own digital content development, project management and editorial services business called Refreshing Publishing.

In his spare time, Derek is an enthusiastic runner (and parkrunner), is on the committee of Maidenhead Athletic Club, and is also a track and endurance official.

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 culminating in being an Ofsted inspector for over 10 years for 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.

Diane Flood
Member

Diane is a Chartered Librarian with more than 30 year's experience of working in libraries from the academic, to public libraries and more recently school libraries. She has a breadth of experience, including roles at a strategic level. She is currently School Librarian at Newlands Girls School in Maidenhead.

She is a lifelong believer in the power of books and reading to enhance lives. Most of her roles have involved working with children and young people to foster a love of reading. She has always been a keen volunteer and amongst other roles, has served as a school governor for over 20 years. She is looking forward to being a member of the MBR team and helping to spread the word about the joy of books and the value of reading to young people across the borough.

Jeanette Kemp
Member

Jeanette has always loved books and reading and was very lucky to have been read to at an early age. This early exposure to books and reading started Jeanette's lifelong passion for enjoying books and spreading the word.

After a successful sales career, Jeanette realised when she took time out to have her family the power of reading and sharing books was something that she wanted to engage with further.

Jeanette spent the following 12 years working for the library service where she able to deliver a reader development programme across the local school's network and also engage local reading groups in a free-lance capacity.

Jeanette delivered the "How to encourage your child to read" sessions at the MBR festivals in 2022 and 2023. 

Clare Nash
Member