Inner-City Home-Reading Project began in 1981 when Rod Parry was appointed head of St John's Primary School, in Ladywood, an inner-city area of Birmingham. He had a lot of experience as a home–school liaison teacher in a priority area, and came determined to develop good relationships with the parents of his new school. The need to use what resources there were as effectively as possible was very great, and the idea of setting up a home-reading project appealed to the teachers because it appeared to provide a powerful tool to tap parental help. Initial meetings were then held to apprise the parents of the plans for a project. Contacting some parents proved to be very difficult, and was only achieved by the teachers writing a lot of letters home and visiting the non-cooperative, some of whom remained uninterested. The head's commitment to forming good links with parents had continued, but was being operated in other ways.