Friends of Carclaze School inspire the next generation with children’s literature festival

Thanks to a grant of £3,000 from the Manor Farm Solar Fund, Friends of Carclaze School were able to throw a one day festival to celebrate children’s literature.

This event, held in St Austell, brought in around 800 people from Bodmin through to St Ives. The aim of this festival was to support families in choosing to read together, inspire communities to read, offer children the opportunity to experience a live author event, and ultimately join the community together to celebrate how reading can hep change lives.

Simon from Friends of Carclaze School said:

“Families told us that this was the first time they had met authors and talked openly about reading and books. Parents were able to find out what their children liked to read and a number who purchased books said that adding to the number of books they had would be a priority for them, when it wasn’t previously.

As an addition the town centre was full of families accessing local businesses as well as the festival event. Some said they had believed that nothing happened in St Austell but they now knew differently”

Impact Story:

“One family with a 6 year old girl and 8 year old boy told me that until they came to the festival they didn’t have any books of their own at home, only ones that the children brought from school. They attended the festival because they were given free tickets and thought they would use them as they had to visit the town anyway. They explained that they were blown away by the event with Sarah Tagholm and had bought a book and signed up for the library. They explained that the book was precious and we talked about the difference choosing to read can make. The pledged to read together every night before bed.”

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