Oadby and Wigston WRVS Visit to Ulverscroft Press

Following his visit to Oadby and Wigston Library to give out certificates to volunteers who had been delivering books to the housebound for over ten years, Mark Merill, of Ulverscroft Press, invited the Wigston and Oadby WRVS Books on Wheels teams, to visit the HQ of his company.  

The Ulverscroft Press and its sister organisation, The Ulverscroft Foundation, is something I have always held in great esteem, both for the production of the books and for the charity. Both of these have benefited millions of people over the last forty years.

Imagine what it would be like living alone, physically unable to get to a library, longing to read. You unexpectedly benefit from a new service where volunteers bring books to you; only to discover your eyes have deteriorated so much you can no longer decode the words on the page.

That was the situation for many in Leicestershire forty years ago before the advent of large print and talking books.  

WRVS members of that era voiced the frustration of their clients, and one man, a retired publisher, Dr. Frederick Alfred Thorpe, listened to them and decided to do something about it.

With the help of best selling authors, Dr Thorpe beat down much opposition from fellow publishers, to set up the Ulverscroft Press in Leicestershire.  Since 1964, large print books have improved the quality of life for millions round the globe. Although for the purpose of this article, I want to stay with large print books and the Leicestershire library service I must mention that Dr Thorpe's vision did not stop at producing books for people with failing eyesight.  He handed the profits from the Press, and its associated companies, to a charity, the Ulverscroft Foundation, which uses the money to sponsor research and treatment of diseases causing visual impairment as well as funding transport to bring people with physical difficulties into libraries. You can find out more about this work at
http://www.edisure.com/~ulverscroft/common/foundation.html

On July 10th, then, a coach took us to the pleasantly situated Ulverscroft Press buildings in Anstey, in the Charnwood area of Leicestershire

The chief executive, Patricia Henderson, talked to us first about the costs of producing large print books.
  The Ulverscroft Press only print books that have already been published, as they do not have the resources for editing. The initial cost, then, is the payment to the original publishers for publishing rights. With the advent of rival large print houses, Ulverscroft has recently been forced into expensive auction situations.  
The paper used for large print books, lightweight and non-glare costs more than that for small print, and the ink has to be of better quality.
  Since a large print run rarely exceeds 1,500, the cost per unit is inevitably higher than that for most small print books.

Leaving Patricia Henderson, we went to the office where library authority orders are processed, a quite complicated business for an authority with many branches.
   
At the next port of call, we were shown a book being serviced for library use.  Not only WRVS members but even the librarians who accompanied us, were astonished at how much servicing was carried out at the Press. In our innocence we had assumed the sticking in of the paper labels, the bar codes and security stamping were done in house by library assistants, and that the publisher merely slipped on the protective plastic cover.

From book servicing, we were passed on to the lady servicing the talking books, and hears how the books were almost all read by professional actors and were produced at the studios Ulverscroft had recently acquired.

We then went to the library containing copies of all the books Ulverscroft has published. Since they produce three or four books a month and have been doing so for forty years, this library is extensive.

Finally, we landed up in the boardroom where a magnificent spread had been laid on for us.  There Joyce Sumner, of the Ulverscroft Foundation, gave us a talk on the setting up of Ulverscroft Foundation and its charitable work and Mark Merrill us paid a social call.

Every WRVS member thoroughly enjoyed the visit and we are very grateful to Mark for arranging it