Book festival in Dumbarton receives more than £5000 funding

Glasgow Times

6 days ago

The 2 Rivers Children's Book Festival planning group will use the allocation of £5360 from the area's Common Good Fund, to promote, plan and host the inaugural event.
The planning team, made up of three members, is looking to promote children's literacy, creativity, and love of reading through free, inclusive festival events.
They also want to support and work in partnership with local schools, libraries, authors, and community organisations while ensuring access to cultural opportunities for children and families in Dumbarton and surrounding areas.
Another aim of the book festival is to encourage a lifelong love for reading by making books fun, relevant and accessible.
The proposals were presented to members of the corporate services committee on Wednesday but concerns were raised by Councillor Chris Pollok over the lack of a charity number.
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Councillor Pollok said: 'This is an unknown group and this is the first year of the festival so there is no charity number.
'I am concerned that we can't hold them to account if the money is not spent correctly. Are there any disclosure checks carried out on the three members?'
Chief Officer Laurence Slavin said there were no disclosure checks as historically groups applying for funding were well known.
Mr Slavin said: 'I take the point you are making and maybe if this was a £50,000, £60,000 or £250,000 application, my risk flag would probably be flying a lot harder than a thousand pounds as a one off.
'That doesn't mean we should be too blase about the award.
'We wouldn't necessarily go down the route of assessing who the members are but if that is what the committee wants us to do because of the nature of this application we could go back and have another look to see what we can bring forward to a future committee.'
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Other councillors acknowledged and understood the concerns raised but believed this could be a way to encourage more children to read.
Councillor Fiona Henebry said: 'Having set up a charity and applied for funding which ran before we had a charity status, I know how hard it is to get funding.
'A book festival within West Dunbartonshire, which is going to be a free event, where you can take kids along to is [welcome] as some kids will never have had books or experienced them before they go to nursery or school.
'It is £5000 and it is a new group but I really think it is something that could run every year within West Dunbartonshire or bi-annually as they have stated in their application form.
'We should be supporting this group to get established and put on this festival for the kids in the hope that more of them do pick up a book and start reading and get back into literature.
'I think that is a positive way to go and get off tech.'