Helensburgh Community Hub Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 7 November 2023
Back to Helensburgh and Lomond Area Community Planning Group — 7 November 2023 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 – H&L Community Planning Group update, November 2023 Expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library programme We are delighted to be able to expand our coverage area for the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library programme to the whole of Helensburgh. This is a globally renowned literacy initiative that provides free books every month to all children aged 0-5. Through our partnership with the Imagination Library we have been offering this programme in Helensburgh East and Central since December 2022, and we are now able to expand the area to the whole of the town. We currently have more than 120 children registered with us and being inspired to love reading which will have lifelong benefits. The Hub funds this programme through income from the Book Nook, supported by additional fundraising through the Argyll Community Lottery and ad hoc donations either directly to us or via the Imagination Library website. As more children register we will be increasing our fundraising activities in 2024. Hub Open Day We held a very successful Open Day in September, which was aimed at getting feedback from the community about the first two years of the Hub’s operation as well as ideas and suggestions for future activities. We asked what people liked about the Hub? Something for all ages, everyone is welcoming, nurturing and caring, running groups to include those who might feel lonely or excluded Positive impact on the local community Always something going on A warm and welcoming space with lots of great activities We also asked what we could to better and from the feedback we have already started a festive crafting course kindly run by one of our Hub regulars and we will be hosting more coffee and family fun Saturday morning events. Reading Minds Book Festival 22-24 March 2024 Save the date for Helensburgh’s second book festival, which is a collaboration between the Hub, Jean’s Bothy and H&L Carers Centre. Reading Minds is about bringing people together to connect over reading and books because it is so beneficial for our health and wellbeing. The first Reading Minds festival, which was funded through the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, saw more than 200 people attending a variety of events. Building on this success we have already got some fantastic authors lined up and we will be introducing events for children as well.