To do this we need to appeal for donors for funding to support the project and for local people who are interested enough to volunteer!

Donors

Sedbergh has been England’s Booktown since 2005.  The project is run by Sedbergh Booktown Literary Trust (charity no. 1115782). In common with many other projects we were closed for several years because of COVID restrictions and are now back as the national and internationally recognised Booktown for England.

From 2024 we have teamed-up with local and national bodies to allow us to expand our programme and to gain from their know-how and prestige. No event partner is a financial sponsor.

Partners:

  • CILIP and Yoto/Carnegie Medals for Children’s Literature (CILIP is the UK’s library and information association)
  • Warner’s Publishing & Writing Magazine
  • Dales Radio (our local volunteer radio station)
  • Sedbergh School;
  • Our local state schools (all ages)
  • Lancaster University Creative Writing Dept
  • Our local Parish Council.

Major events in 2025

  • March 2025, the Yoto/Carnegie Booktown Takeover. The Carnegies are the UK’s longest running and best-loved children’s book awards. This several-year tie-up with the Carnegie Medals will present an event for school children each spring (reaching around 1000 children of primary age) entirely free of charge for pupils.
  • June 21st & 22nd, Horror in the Howgills. A Spine-tingling Exploration of the Macabre featuring ten acclaimed authors celebrating writing on the supernatural and super-imaginative edge.
  • October 17th to 19th, Death in the Dales. Three days of dastardly doings with members of the Crime Writers Association.
  • Autumn 2025 annual writing competition. There will be separate classes for adults, students and children with prizes and the chance to present work to an audience.
  • Writing Showcase: a chance for the region’s amateur writers, poets, playwrights and performers (age 15 and over) to present their work to an audience and a professional panel who will give advice and prizes (in conjunction with Writing Magazine).
  • Tall Stories: a regular story telling event with local amateur and guest professional story tellers, in conjunction with local hospitality venues.
  • Other Events and Classes will include eight stand-alone author events, a course of three writing classes for adults, three children’s in-school writer events for our state primary and secondary schools plus visiting theatre companies etc.

This programme is costed out at around £15,000 with whatever we make at the box office reinvested.

Medium and Long-term ambitions

When the Booktown started we took over the tourist office and used space in the building to run a co-operative second hand book shop. In 2012 a separate Sedbergh charity bought the building and continues to run the bookshop successfully, however we need more books in Sedbergh so……….

In coalition with Sedbergh Town bodies………Our grand design – 37-39 Main Street, Sedbergh. This 8,000 sq.ft building occupies a premier position on Main Street.  It is Grade 2 listed and has been largely unoccupied and semi-derelict since the 1990’s. It is one of the most historic buildings in the town with foundations going back to at least 1500. This property is a blight on our town and a problem to our planning authority, the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  If the town could somehow become the owners of the buildings, current thinking by a co-operative community share offer, we could run the usable ground floor as a Booktown shop and café and raise the funds for the renovation of the rest of the building through heritage funders.  The purchase and community ownership of this building would benefit the town and the Booktown and ensure the long-term survival of the Booktown project for the people of Sedbergh and region.

Funding for charitable causes is in short supply at the moment.  Our programme this next year is costed at around £15,000 and we expect to earn around half of that or more with ticket sales.  However, simply aiming to break-even on our activity is not enough!  We would like to emulate the success of Hay on Wye which has been Wales’s Booktown for 50 years, we would like to enhance the literary legacy of Cumbria, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales for many years to come.

To do this we need to employ a part-time Director and a part-time Media Secretary to work towards that permanent on-street presence in Sedbergh, as well as continuing to expand our activity.

Please help – any contribution would be a huge help, but a regular donation would be even better.  You can donate through our Just Giving page or direct bank transfer to Sedbergh Booktown Literary Trust account number: 34533273, sort code: 010481.

To discuss a more formal sponsorship with the opportunity to advertise your business at all our events please ring 01539 621770 or email booktown@sedbergh.org.uk

Volunteers

Stewards attend events free of charge so why not sign up and come along, you’’ll be pouring tea and selling tickets, nothing too strenuous and we guarantee it’’ll be fun!

Trustees are the decisions and ideas people, we aren’’t a formal bunch so we’’ll appreciate your input whatever it is. Trustees are registered with the Charity Commission and Companies House and should we go bust you would only be asked to pay £10.

Friends of Sedbergh Booktown: The ‘Friends’ of a charity or group usually run themselves as a separate entity from the body they befriend. They hold events and fund-raising drives to help the charity. Is there someone out there who feels this might be something they would like to do? Please let us know by one of the methods below.

So that’s it, your Booktown needs you.

booktown@sedbergh.org.uk
Phone 015396 21770
Or call in at the Sleepy Elephant,  41 Main Street, for more info.