Two stories from the charities TheOneRing.net sponsors: Books in Homes and WorldWide Fund for Nature. [More]
Month: August 2001
We’re really pleased with the results of our two sponsorships this year. We contribute to the “Books in Homes” programme in NZ. “Books in Homes” not only makes books available to schools in poor areas, but fosters a love of books and reading in places where this might not normally be the case. There’s been a lot of anecdotal evidence from the schools involved that BiH makes a big difference to reading levels among children, and this year NZ Council for Educational Research is doing a survey to determine exactly how effective the programme is.
Individual schools have been doing their own surveys, of course. The latest BiH newsletter shares the results of Rawene School’s inclusion in the Books in Homes programme: two years ago, 75% of Rawene’s pupils were the below the national average for readers of their age. Now, after two years with “Books in Homes,” that figure has shrunk to 35%, while 42% are now above the average literacy for their age.
Meanwhile we got mail from the World-Wide Fund for Nature. We sponsor one of their marine conservancy programmes dedicated to saving the endangered Hector’s Dolphin. WWF’s Lynda Murray wrote to say, “We had a win last week – which is great!! The govenrment announced a new management plan for North Island Hector’s Dolphin which is really very good.”
Tish sent in this awesome report on Decipher’s showing at GenCon. I’ll have scans of the various items Tish sent in (Thanks Tish! 🙂 as soon as they arrive. Now, for the report:
“I attended Gen Con in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 2-5. This was my fourth Gen Con. I usually spend most of my time at the Star Wars-related events. This year, I was looking hard for anything LOTR-related.” [More]
Campaigners in the Moseley district of Birmingham are calling on the city council to make more of the area’s links to the famous writer J.R.Tolkien. Tolkien, who wrote the epic trilogy Lord Of The Rings, and whose book The Hobbit is the best selling fiction book of the 20th century, lived in and around Moseley for most of his childhood. A Liberal Democrat activist, Martin Mullaney has drawn up a petition outlining six measures he’d like to see implemented, including the erection of a statue to the writer. [More]
At one time or the next, everyone has joked around and created some witty little one liners for the upcoming Trilogy that are so awful that they cause a round of chuckles from the people around you. You know the ones, lines like “Send THAT back to Sauron!” that would be more at home in a cheap action movie than a wonderful piece of literature. Well according to Herre-Der-Ringe, we should expect Sam Gamgee to say “That one is for the Gaffer!” after slaying an orc in Return of the King. Not so funny now is it? !Spoilers! [More]
Ringer Spy Rei sends along word on some new Mithril Minis you can buy from the Mithril Miniatures Website. [More]