Are you male, live or work in Tendring and have an hour or two a week to spare to volunteer for a good cause?

Lads Need Dads – a local award-winning not-for-profit organisation which began in Brightlingsea – is seeking male volunteers aged 18 years and over to train as reading mentors to join its growing team so it can support more boys with absent fathers or limited access to a male role model.

The mentors are required to help tackle several issues affecting boys:

• Boys fall considerably behind girls in reading abilities throughout their school life
• Boys have been falling behind girls in G.C.S.E’s for three decades
• Boys from homes where a father is absent are at a greater risk of under-achieving at school

Mentors are required to give one to two hours a week for a 12-week period starting in February. Full training will be provided before they are matched with will be matched to one or two boys from year 6 who are based in a local primary school.

For an application form email [email protected] or call 07834 402017 and leave a telephone contact number.  All applicants will undergo an enhanced DBS check.

For more information about the organisation, visit www.ladsneeddads.org .