As part of the BBC RaW Reading and Writing campaign, enter our competition and share your story on the BBC.
Reading and writing is a big turn-off for 12 million adults in Britain because they have always found it a struggle.
If you or someone you know has overcome that hurdle - BBC Gloucestershire wants to hear from you!
RaW is a nationwide BBC campaign to 'turn on' those 12 million people to discover that brushing up English skills can be a fantastic confidence booster - and really change your life for the better.
It's called RaW because it's about Reading and Writing and unlocking your raw potential.
Entertainment is at the heart of the RaW message, with a host of popular shows including EastEnders, Davina and Neighbours joining in and a website packed with quizzes, puzzles and info on how to improve your skills.
Change for the better
But the very best way to get the message across is by sharing the real-life experiences of people who have 'been there and done it' by getting help to improve their reading and writing. People who can say in their own words what life was like before and how improving their English skills has changed them.
Like Patrick, from Gloucester. Childhood illness meant he started school two years late, was put at the back of the class and he left at 15 almost unable to read and write.
After 30 years of depression and alcoholism he tackled the bottle and returned to learning.
Patrick says: "It’s like being free. The handcuffs are finally off me. I knocked on a door of opportunity, I walked into a room of opportunity and in that room are a whole lot of other doors – and I can read the signs!"
And like Jennifer, who has just started a Skillswise English brush-up course at the BBC Learning Centre.
She wasn't encouraged to study at school and as the eldest of six children was expected to look after the younger ones too.
Jennifer, 52, says: "At school it wasn’t important to take exams, and back then girls were expected to get married and have children, not have a career.
"I am on my own now and I realise a career IS important to me, but I have struggled in the workplace, especially letters and emails – I’d do anything to get out of writing.
"Now I’m not that child in a classroom where the teacher told us ‘You’re as thick as 40 planks, the lot of you’ - I’m a grown-up. I’m getting more confident and it’s great."
What's YOUR story?
Tell us in 100 words or less what made YOU decide to take the plunge and improve your reading or writing, and how it has made you feel.
The trigger might have been wanting to help your children with their schoolwork, to improve your job prospects, or just to feel more confident about yourself - whatever it is, we want to know!
You can fill in the form online or print off a copy and post it to us.
It's fine to get help from a tutor or friend filling in the form if you need it.
Postal entries should be sent to:
Clare Parrack,
RaW Stories Competition,
BBC Learning Centre,
Gloucester
GL1 1PW
We'll publish ALL the stories you send us on the BBC Gloucestershire website, And 12 of you will get the opportunity to turn your story into a BBC radio feature.
You'll get expert advice from BBC staff to develop what you've written into a radio script and we'll help you record it in the community studio at the BBC Learning Centre in Gloucester.
The closing date for our RaW Stories competition will be Friday April 28, but be quick off the mark and you'll get a special RaW prize.
Senders of the first 12 entries (6 by post, 6 online) will each receive a Quick Reads book, and 12 £1-off Quick Reads vouchers.
Quick Reads are a new series of easy-to-read, short paperbacks by bestselling writers including Maeve Binchy, Tom Holt, Matthew Reilly, Ruth Rendell, Joanna Trollope and other top names like Richard Branson. They are now on sale at supermarkets, WH Smith, and Ottakars.
