The Wigtown Festival Company is a charitable organisation run by a voluntary committee. It aspires to make Dumfries & Galloway a better place to be a reader and a writer – a place where literature changes lives, which is especially true for young people, where research proves that young readers become more successful in life.

The organisation is running the 2022 Big DoG Children’s Festival in Dumfries & Galloway which is taking place from 1 – 3rd April 2022.

The programme includes authors such as Benjamin Zephaniah, David MacPhail, Nick Sharratt and Gill Arbuthnott, and is aimed at children aged 0-12 years and their families.

Many events are free, and the programme also includes a story translated in English and Arabic, and sensory storytelling events for children with additional needs.

The funding for Wigtown Festival Company came from the Association’s ‘Making Our Communities a Better Place Fund’ which operates throughout the year (1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022) until the allocated funding is exhausted.

Alan Somerville, senior development officer of Cunninghame, presented the cheque to Andy Stewart, producer (children & young people), at the start of March.

Andy Stewart said: “We are grateful to the Cunninghame Housing Association for their support towards this year’s Festival which will enable us to give more families the opportunity to meet some of the nation’s favourite authors, illustrators and storytellers right here in Dumfries.” The funding provided by Cunninghame Housing Association supports bringing a speaker to the Children’s Book Festival as well as being a sponsor of the event.”

Frank Sweeney, group CEO, CHA, added: “What a fantastic event for young children, which will prove to be a lot of fun as well as being a lifelong learning experience and teaching them an essential skill to enable them to communicate effectively with others.”