Jack Reacher author labels Welshpool High School budget as a “scandal”

The creator of the Jack Reacher series of books which have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide said he was shocked to hear just how poorly Welshpool High School is funded, and labelled the situation with its library as “stupid”.

Lee Child was in Welshpool Friday as part of a school reunion organised by his former schoolmate and former Welshpool Mayor, Cllr Alison Davies.

He decided to visit the high school as part of his day and held an enlightening session with students, during which he shared his disbelief after hearing that the library budget is just £100 a year, prompting him to make a sizable donation to buy the books it needs.

MyWelshpool also understands that due to the squeeze on its budget, the school librarian is taking redundancy, meaning it can only operate in future with the goodwill of volunteers.

Speaking after his session, Mr Child told us: “It horrifies me that we have got this situation that a school of this size and quality has such a pinched budget because of national politics, that 13p per pupil per year is for the library.

“That is shocking and it is a scandal. It is also stupid. We have got a very complex future ahead and we need the next generation to be flexible, imaginative and versatile to deal with it. So, I thought, yeah let’s drop in and try to encourage them a bit.”

Mr Child, real name James Grant, has written 29 books in the Jack Reacher series, two of which have become films starring Tom Cruise and more recently that character has been turned into two series for Amazon Prime. A third is in production.

He shared some inspiring stories about his journey to becoming one of the world’s best-selling authors after being fired from his job with Granada Television at the age of 39 in 1997.

He told students that many of the nasty characters in his earlier books were based on the bosses who let him go.

But it was the issue of the high school’s under-funding that really irritated him, prompting him to tell us: “They read all their lives and they start that right here at the school library.

“Because we know parents have the cost of living issues to deal with, they can’t necessarily afford all the books they want to get their kids. Maybe they can’t afford to get any at all which is why the school library is such an essential resource. It is a bit like a food bank for the mind. We need these things.”

When asked what he would say to the Head of Education at Powys County Council if they were sitting with him now, he said: “I would tell them we should flip society upside down and we should pay our teachers like hedge fund managers.

“Teachers are more important than doctors or anything else. Teachers are the thing that will create and enable future lives. Every single resource should go to education first and everything else should come second.”

PICTURES: Lee Child spent almost two hours talking to Welshpool High School students and signing books.