Alan Somerville, Senior Development Officer of Cunninghame Housing Association recently presented a cheque for £480 to Amy Johnston Stewart of Wigtown Festival Company.
Wigtown Festival Company is a charitable organisation run by a voluntary committee, based in Dumfries and Galloway. They aspire to make Dumfries & Galloway a better place to be a reader and writer – a place where literature changes lives, which is especially true for young people, where research proves that young readers become more successful in life. The organisation run a year round, region wide programme which includes, but not limited to – the annual Wigtown Book Festival which takes place for 10 days each autumn; Big DoG Children’s Book Festival; mentoring for young people and adult writers; the annual Wigtown Poetry Prize and the Anne Brown Essay Prize for Scotland.
The funding provided by Cunninghame Housing Association is supporting the costs involved to hold the Big DoG Children’s Book Festival which is taking place in Dumfries and Galloway from 31 st March – 2 nd April 2023. The programme includes Aardman Animations, Ellie Robinson (gold medal winning Paralympian), Allen Fatimaharan (official World Book Day Illustrator 2023), Philip Ardagh and Ross Collins who are just some of the authors who will be attending. The festival is aimed at children aged 0-13 years and their families covering the whole of Dumfries & Galloway.
Lesley Keenan, Chairperson of CHA commented, “the Association are delighted to be supporting such a worthwhile event, promoting reading and writing to young people and their families, encouraging them to read together at home, possibly write their own stories and most importantly being inclusive to everyone”.
Pictured left to right: Amy Johnston Stewart, Alan Somerville, Senior Development Officer, Cunninghame Housing Association
The funding for the Wigtown Festival Company came from the Associations “Making Our Communities Better Places Fund” which operates throughout the year (1 st April to 31 st March) until the allocated funding is exhausted.
Local Groups or individuals interested in finding out more about the Association’s Making Our Communities Better Places Fund can do so by visiting our website https://cunninghame-housing.org where you can also download an application form.
Please note that the funds for this year are exhausted and application forms will be accepted again from April 2023.
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