than seven million people struggle with the written word and most keep it a secret. one of the worst affected areas for illiteracy is the north east of england. for years, a former teacher has wanted to help. ah for. apple. ah.. ah for apple. but then kerry clegg saw this. it was a documentary about jay blades from the repair shop, who was learning to read. this is going to be my first attempt to learn since school. i contacted them and said we ve got a great need up here. how do you spell tree? t. where s r? r. 0k. that s it. and then e. but e starts down there. two years later and kerry s finally brought that charity to the north east, where volunteers teach adults to read. a teacher for 20 years, kerry knew how big the problem was across the north east of adults who couldn t read and she wanted to change that. it s about 16.4% of adults can t read. sadly, in the north east, that s even higher at 17%. that s about one in six adults who are reading at a below primary school