Dumbarton reading group receives £5,360 from Common Good Fund
Published 15 August 2025
A new reading group in Dumbarton has been awarded more than £5,000 in funding from the Dumbarton Common Good Fund to promote a reading festival.
Members of the Corporate Services Committee approved the one-off grant to The 2 Rivers Children’s Book Festival planning group to promote, plan and host the first year of a Book Festival.
The festival will encourage a lifelong love for reading by making books fun, relevant and accessible. The group’s aim is to inspire and support healthy reading habits for children and their families, which can have significant benefits of improved academic attainment but also general wellbeing.
The funding will also be used for marketing the event for both print and online advertising; event costs including author, illustrator and storyteller fees and expenses; volunteer expenses; Disclosure Scotland fees; art materials; venue hire, banners, programmes and other fun promotional materials including customised ‘selfie frames’ designed by the illustrators taking part in the event.
The Council is committed to supporting Dumbarton community groups and charities and the Dumbarton Town Centre Common Good Fund had a balance of £367,828 in March this year.
Councillor William Rooney, Convener of Corporate Services, said: “I am delighted to see this grant approved today as it will be a great benefit to help establish the group and also promote reading to our families.
“As a Council we are committed to encouraging children and young people to foster a love of reading from a young age. By supporting services and groups that help families to do this, we are helping improve the life chances of our children and young people in West Dunbartonshire.”
Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, Vice Convener of Corporate Services, said: “Groups can use the Dumbarton Common Good Fund for a variety of good causes which will benefit the people of Dumbarton. I am sure this money will be welcomed by the organisation and I wish them every success in their new venture.”
Sheila Jarvie, Project Leader of The 2 Rivers Children's Book Festival, said the funding was "a vital boost to the event".
“We are absolutely delighted to receive this funding from the Council. Their commitment to fund our first festival is crucial and allows it to now become a reality. We are a tiny community group of three who are passionate about reading. Our goal is to encourage a lifelong love for reading by making books fun, relevant and accessible. The charity World Book Day state that 'Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child's future success' and the festival is our way of supporting this within our local community. We would like to thank the Council for their support, which will help us put on a fun day for families across West Dunbartonshire.”