Wood Green Literary Festival

Tim and I try and attend as many of the Local Business meetings as we can in Haringey. The majority of these meetings have been instigated by the good people in the Regeneration Department at Haringey Council. And they are good people.

A few months ago, at one of these meetings, it was announced that Haringey had been given £50k of the Government's 'High Street Innovation Fund'. This money was put up to support projects that improve the vibrancy of town centres. The Council wanted town centre organisations to put forward their proposals for how the money should be spent. They  asked organisations to submit detailed proposals on how they would improve Haringey's high streets.

So, we thought, why don't we propose the idea of a Literary festival in Wood Green. I filled in the proposal form, including stuff like this.

"We are seeking funding to organise a richly diverse, exciting, and truly unique Literary Festival in Wood Green in 2013. It’s hoped that staging this will increase footfall in the area, and act as a positive showcase for Wood Green. We aim to put the 3 day festival on in October 2013, running from Friday evening to Sunday evening. As well as traditional venues...we will also look to use other local gems, such as the Karamel Club & The West Indian Cultural Centre to host events. We will also investigate the possibilities of using outdoor spaces and schools"   and also,   "It’s an event that local businesses and residents can get behind. Not only will it have a big appeal to locals as a wonderful opportunity to be involved in an exciting and positive event, but businesses will see the potential of higher footfall in the area and therefore an opportunity to get more people through their doors. A literary festival in Wood Green would be a very clear sign that the area is a vibrant and ‘happening’ place to visit and live. This could prove to be a catalyst for more community based events and it has the potential to attract more new businesses to the area, who will see Wood Green in a positive light."    I'll spare you the detail, but I sent the form off about 8 weeks ago and we crossed our fingers.   About a week ago we got this letter back from Haringey Council.

It's official.

It says that 'subject to approvals' we have been awarded £10,000 to put on a Literary Festival next year.

So, after we finished dancing around the shop, and we'd composed songs and poems praising Mary Portas and Haringey Council, we thought we'd let you know.

 We're not going to be able to start organising anything this side of Christmas, what with all the other stuff we're trying to do at the moment (selling books and that..), but in the New Year we'll be putting together a Festival Committee, who we're hoping will help us to put on a truly wonderful celebration of books and reading.

We'll keep you posted.