Eight-year-old Milan Kumar participated in the #FitforLit cycling challenge to raise GBP 1,000 for the National Literacy Trust and share his love of reading with others.
Indian-origin Milan cycled around the University of Bolton Stadium, home to the Bolton Wanderers FC football club, and met with the team coach Ian Evatt during his challenge. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall also appreciated his efforts, tweeting, "Amazing job Milan! Congratulations on your efforts so far!"
“I want to make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged children. Every child should be able to read and have books of their own. I'm combining my two favourite hobbies to fundraise to help make a difference to the literacy skills of all children,” Milan said.
His efforts proved successful as he managed to raise GBP 1,278 in just three days.
Milan highlighted his passion for reading during lockdown, when he read an incredible 50 books – including titles by David Walliams, JK Rowling, William Shakespeare and Nelson Mandela – as part of a reading challenge. His achievements were recognised as “absolutely wonderful” in a special letter from HRH The Duchess of Cornwall as well.
Combining his two favourite hobbies in the #FitforLit fundraising challenge, Milan cycled 50 laps a day – one lap for every book he read during lockdown – around the University of Bolton Stadium till he reached the set target.
In his latest endeavour, Milan utilised his love of cycling and football with his passion for reading, He also enjoys playing cricket, tennis, gymnastics, swimming and Bollywood dancing. He also earned praise from his school and Bolton South Member of Parliament Yasmin Qureshi.
The National Literacy Trust challenge encourages the public to take on a sporting activity with a literacy twist to raise money to help us support the literacy and learning of children most seriously impacted by COVID-19 when they return to school in September.
For more than 20 years, the National Literacy Trust has used the power of sport to motivate more than one million children to improve their literacy skills.
“Milan is a sporting and reading legend! Every day I see first-hand just how powerful sport can be at motivating children to read and write, so I have no doubt that Milan’s incredible fundraising challenge will achieve just that, while also raising vital funds for our work,” Jim Sells, Sport and Literacy Programme Manager, NLT, said.