Tristan day Cunha is home to 264 British citizens, 13 of whom are under the age of 5. It also happens to be the remotest inhabited place on Earth. But all that didn't stop Dolly from getting her books to this South Atlantic island.
In December of 2007, the UK joined Dolly's Imagination Library to provide a monthly book to pre-school-age children.
The first books from the Imagination Library to arrive on Tristan da Cunha were met with delight by the island’s 13 under fives. Tasha Reilly, Deputy Administrator for Tristan da Cunha explained: “With a population of just 264, these children represent, in very real terms the island’s future. The books will provide a wonderful link to the “off island world” as well as an important first boost to their education”.
The books travelling to Tristan da Cunha had to undertake one of Royal Mail’s most unique delivery routes on their journey from the Library’s UK base. The first leg of the journey was a 6,000 mile flight to Cape Town, followed by a week long voyage of over 1,500 miles via fishing vessel.
Mark Thomson, Royal Mail Director commented: “Our people are used to going the extra mile when it comes to delivering letters and packets, but the route to Tristan da Cunha is perhaps one of our most challenging. We’re delighted to be helping the Imagination Library reach children not just in the UK, but now in the most remote inhabited place on earth.”
The Imagination Library now delivers over six million books per month to kids and it seems to be growing all the time. How exciting for Dolly to be able to help young children even thousands and thousands of miles away from her own home. If you'd like to find out more about the Imagination Library and all the good that they're doing, check out www.imaginationlibrary.com.
Thanks Meg for the tip. And here's a cute little video showing the voyage of the books.
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