Helensburgh Community Hub Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 11 November 2025
Back to Helensburgh and Lomond Area Community Planning Group — 11 November 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Helensburgh Community Hub – CPG update Nov 2025 Three years of Helensburgh’s Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Our partnership with the globally successful literacy programme Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has now benefited more than 300 children in Helensburgh. Since launching in December 2022 our numbers have risen steadily from 120 in November 2023 to 231 this time last year to 324 now. All children aged 0-5 who live in Helensburgh are eligible to receive a free book chosen by education experts every month. What many people don’t realise is the financial contribution the Hub makes – which is now around £500 a month (we pay for the wholesale cost of the book and postage, which is £2.16 per child). This is generated from sales in our Book Nook and is a commitment made by the board of Helensburgh Community Hub to encourage reading for pleasure because it is so significant in terms of children’s life chances. We’ve had some wonderful feedback from parents about how much their children enjoy receiving the books and that families are enjoying sharing the stories together: ‘It’s a brilliant program and we really enjoy it as a family”, “He gets so excited opening it and has enjoyed the last couple of books. He really liked the last one going to find a monster!” This aligns with some of the key findings from the Imagination Library UK Impact Report 2024: - Participation in the Imagination Library strengthened parent-child bonds through frequent reading, and by helping parents learn more about their child. - Receiving Imagination Library books for 12 months or more correlated with improved academic outcomes at age 5. - Participation in the Imagination Library supported improved parental self-image and their attitudes towards sharing books with their children. Since launching in 1995, the Imagination Library has become the most impactful, early childhood book-gifting program in the world, having mailed over 220 million high-quality, age-appropriate books. Currently 3 million books are mailed each month.
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Helensburgh Repair Hub – our last Repair Hub date for 2025 will be on Saturday November 29 from 10.30-12pm. There won’t be a Repair Hub in December, but we will instead be treating out fantastic volunteers to a festive lunch to thank them for their efforts getting this successful project up and running. Helensburgh Repair Hub is a collaborative project between Helensburgh Community Hub, Jean’s Bothy and Argyll and Bute Climate Action Network (ABCAN). We are planning the 2026 calendar to include theme days and some pop up Repair Hubs around Helensburgh and Lomond. Wellbeing for Afghan women – we are working with A&B Council’s refugee support team and yoga teacher Roni Ferguson to offer wellbeing sessions for Afghan women refugees. LGBTQ+ community social event – following the success of this year’s Pride event we are working with members of the LGBTQ+ community to create more social and support events and activities, starting with an informal get together on Friday 28 November at Helensburgh Community Hub from 5,30-7.30pm. For more information about this event or anything else contact details are below. Development Manager Gill Simpson 01436 678088 / 07498 528747 manager@helensburghcommunityhub.org.uk Registered Company SC645409 Registered Charity SC05045.