100-Year-Old Veteran Shares His Passion For Reading With Kids At His Local Elementary School

January 26, 2023

A 100-year-old reading volunteer has been awarded the prestigious British Empire Medal in the 2023 New Year Honours.

Peter Davies / Credit: BBC

Peter Davies, a World War II veteran, spends his free time reading to local school children. After losing his wife of 72 years, Davies said he felt like a "lost soul" and so he decided to begin volunteering at Dean Valley Community Primary School in Bollington -- a town and civil parish in Cheshire, England.

"I'm sure I get more out of it than the children do. It is a lovely, warm feeling [that] I belong," Davies told the BBC. "I'm not this old man who lives on his own. I'm part of the community, which is great."

He says it's also giving him "street cred" in his village.

"My street cred is tremendous because I'll be going anywhere in the village and a child will shout out 'Hello Mr Davies' and I feel 10 feet tall," he said.

The school's head teacher described Davies as "inspirational, generous, considerate and thoughtful".

"[He] has gifted his time for so many children over the last six years to instill a love of reading that we will never be able to say thank you," Vicky McPherson said.

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