The new chief of a major shopping centre is backing a charity that promotes literacy and green travel to youngsters in Kent.

One of the first decisions made by Francesca Donovan in her new role as centre manager at Westwood Cross, which is owned by Land Securities, was to announce the centre’s support for the KM Charity Team.

The charity runs the KM Walk to School schemes Walk on Wednesday (WOW) and Active Bug as well as literacy scheme Buster’s Book Club, which officially launched this term following a successful pilot where 3,000 pupils achieved more than 500,000 minutes of home reading.

Ms Donovan said: “We are thrilled to have joined forces with the KM Charity Team. It is a great organisation that provides support to so many diverse and interesting projects across Kent, specifically focusing on improving the health and wellbeing of children in the county.

“At Westwood Cross we have more than 2,000 people working within our 50 stores and restaurants and we’re encouraging as many people as possible to show their support for the charity.”

KM Walk to School is also supported by Kent County Council, Medway Council, Ashford Borough Council, Canterbury City Council, Maidstone Borough Council, Thanet District Council, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Mini Babybel, Countrystyle Recycling, Specsavers, Chaucer Foundation, Eurostar, Southern Water, Orbit South, Golding Homes, Jelf Insurance Brokers, Leeds Castle, Independent Music Productions and Whitefriars shopping area.

For more information including how headteachers can sign up their schools or how to register for monthly e-newsletters, visit www.kmwalktoschool.co.uk.