A new chapter in tackling homelessness - the read-a-thon fundraiser

Cyrenians Treasurer Peter Lloyd embarks on a literary fundraising challenge to read 70 books in 6 months - we sat down with him to find out more... 

The average person reads between 10 and 15 books a year.  

It’s common to hear I don’t have time to read. I can’t find the time! Who’s got the time?  

While retirement might help with that, Cyrenians Board Member Peter Lloyd has taken it one step further and committed to the epic fundraising challenge of reading 70 books in six months in time for his 70th birthday.  

To mark World Book Day, we sat down with Peter to hear about his experience, and what motivated him to undertake this personal challenge for Cyrenians.  

Peter joined Cyrenians in 2023 as the board Treasurer, but he’s known of our work since the mid-1980s. After seeing homelessness, deprivation and inequality on his international travels, Peter wanted to make a difference closer to home – continuing to put his longstanding faith into action. 

Peter’s dedication to charity work means he was already no stranger to fundraising challenges - but to mark this milestone birthday he wanted to try something new. Cyrenians are lucky to have all sorts of supporters taking on incredible fundraising events to help make a difference – but reading 70 books in 6 months is certainly a first. 

So, how is the challenge going? 

“Over the past 5 months I’ve read things I would never have chosen otherwise, and I have been really surprised by how many new things I’ve enjoyed.  

As a teen, I read mostly science fiction or nature books, but this has forced me to read far more widely. I’ve read Booker Prize winners, classics, popular fiction best sellers, and authors from around the world. There’s been some hit and miss, but I’ve enjoyed the Booker Prize winners more than I expected. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed the classics. 

‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch was the best book so far. I didn’t know anything about the book beforehand. It’s my clear favourite by a mile and terrifying in this time with the growth of far-right politics.  

One of the other books that surprised me was Nevil Shute’s ‘On The Beach’. It was so topical with the current wars in the world, despite being written in 1957.  

In terms of misses, there’s only one book I put down and gave up part way through, and that was Robinson Crusoe. I found all the endless descriptions tedious. I found some of the older classics hard going generally, like Gulliver’s Travels. 

To complete the challenge, I need to read about one book every 3 days, or roughly 12 books a month. A special shout out goes to library staff at Duloch Dunfermline, who have been super supportive in juggling dozens of book reservations! With just over a month to go, I’ve probably spent around 322 hours reading. By my 70th birthday, it will be over 420 hours with a book in hand, raising money to tackle homelessness.” 

Peter’s challenge fundraiser is no small feat. He is completing the longest continuous fundraiser in recent Cyrenians history.   

Alongside ambitious fundraisers and generous supporters like Peter, Cyrenians is working towards preventing homelessness from happening in the first place. It can and should be prevented. With the support from our community, we will continue our vital work – providing prevention and early intervention services like family mediation, addiction recovery support, supported housing, food distribution and more. 

While Peter may have started this challenge to raise vital funds to tackle homelessness, he didn’t anticipate how rewarding the experience would be. Reading voices and stories gathered from across the world and different eras reaffirmed for Peter that we are all connected through our experience of being human, and the value of supporting a charity that puts people’s lived experience at the centre of its work. A fundraiser like Peter’s is a reminder of what can be achieved when we recognise our shared experiences and shared responsibility to people in our community who need it most.    

The final question we posed to Peter, was whether there was such thing as too much reading. “Too much? Probably,  but I just ordered a new book by one of my favourite authors for when I finish.”

If you would like to support Peter’s hard work, or find out more about his challenge – follow the link for his JustGiving Page here.  

Interested in starting your own fundraising challenge? Email the team at fundraising@cyrenians.scot.