History

Shannon Trust was founded in 1997 by Christopher Morgan, a farmer from Sussex. In the early nineties he joined a pen friend scheme run by the Prison Reform Trust and began corresponding with a life sentenced prisoner, Tom Shannon.

Through Tom’s letters, Christopher learned about prison life and about the shocking levels of poor literacy amongst prisoners. In 1995 the letters were put together in a book titled, ‘Invisible Crying Tree’. The royalties from the sale of the book were used to found Shannon Trust.

Christopher took his idea for the Shannon Reading Plan to the Director General of the Prison Service who was sceptical and challenged him to make it work in
HMP Wandsworth, a notoriously busy prison in London. It took a further three years of experimentation before the Shannon Reading Plan really started to impact on the lives of non-reading prisoners.

The major breakthrough came through the discovery of ‘Toe by Toe’ which has proved to be an excellent resource for use in prisons. It is designed to help children and adults learn to read from the beginning.

The great thing about Toe by Toe is that you do not need to be a specialist to use it – as long as you can read, and you follow the instructions, you can teach a non-reader. This is why is works so well in enabling prisoners to teach other prisoners.

In 2001, Neil Lodge, a prison officer at HMP Wandsworth took an interest in the Shannon Reading Plan and by the end of the year he had developed a workable plan and produced 48 new readers! Neil observed that those involved not only benefited from learning to read but also from increased confidence, raised self-esteem and improved behaviour.

The Toe by Toe Reading Plan, (formerly known as the Shannon Trust Reading Plan), is now operating in nearly every UK prison. It has been granted charitable funding from many sources. It has won awards for its positive contributions to learning in prisons.

Right from the start Shannon Trust has been keen to be seen as independent of the prison ‘establishment’. It has always tried to let the prisoners have ownership of the Reading Plan. We do not seek Government funding for fear of losing its informality and independence. We believe this is why we have proved so successful in engaging the most difficult to reach, non-traditional learners in learning to read.

Christopher Morgan is now over 80, and has handed over the executive leadership of the Trust but remains on the Board of Trustees.

38 Ebury Street
London
SW1W 0LU

T: 020 7730 4917
E: enquiries@shannontrust.org.uk