th
Present: Valerie Bird (Chair), Lucy Flannery, June Halford, Peter Hammond,
Roger Harrison, Sue Leach, Julia Nelson-Tomson David Penrose, Jacquie
Penrose, John Pile, Jim Rodgers, Emma Shale, Kate Stainton-Ellis, Francis
Taylor, Colin Telford, Gladys West,
Apologies: Stephen Atkinson, Cathy Baker, Stephen Boyce, Cllr Ann
Buckley, Nathan Chapman, Nikki Conyard, Tim Dawes, Anne Jenkins, Rob
Richardson, Irene Selway, the Right Hon David Willetts MP
1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.
2. Valerie read out the Aims of the Festival and described how we have fulfilled them with our many and varied events for children and adults over the past five years. We have managed to reach all parts of Havant Borough with theatre, poetry, music, authors, walks, workshops, readings and myriad other events in libraries, churches, chapels, shops and other non-traditional venues.
We’ve entertained some famous names, encouraged new authors and showcased local talent.
Originally the ‘brain child’ of Lucy Flannery, the first Director, she brought together Tim Dawes of Nineveh Book Shop and Art Gallery, David
Penrose, Peter Corrigan, Valerie Bird, June Halford, Peter Hammond, Judith
Worley and Colin Telford of Hayling Island Bookshop. Subsequently
Committee membership widened to include many others including Brian
Clarke, Sian Bamber, Gladys West and Jim Rodgers.
Our Patrons have been extremely supportive and came to one or more of the Festivals. David Willetts, our MP, has never missed an opening
Ceremony! Valerie also thanked the members of the Steering Group and the
Executive Committee for their valuable contribution.
Over the years various committee members have stepped down leaving a very small group of people to continue the Festival. Valerie confirmed that both she and June Halford were stepping down this year.
3. Lucy Flannery, Founding Director, thanked Valerie and June for their hard work. She went on to say that we were actually the first Literary Festival in the area and from the very beginning had been ambitious in scale and vision.
Lucy reported that Portsmouth’s Bookfest had received a grant of £20K in
2012 from the Arts Council, and their success in securing this funding was largely due to local authority support. She contrasted this experience with
HLF’s.
Despite grants from HBC, HCC and Awards for All, and sponsorship from local firms and organisations like Waitrose and Rotary, HLF had never

succeeded in attracting funding from the Arts Council. This could be attributed to the lack of specialist expertise and the sheer time investment required, which was almost impossible to achieve with a solely volunteer workforce.
Although pleased by Bookfest’s success, it was disappointing that our own local authority had not seen the merit in the Festival and made a similar commitment and investment to that made to Bookfest by Portsmouth City
Council, especially given the economic benefits to the local economy and the fact that we were pioneers in targeting hard-to-reach groups and partnering with local organisations such as Havant & Waterlooville FC.
She went on to say that Havant has an enviable reputation as an artistic and cultural place and a borough-wide Arts Festival might be a way to incorporate all the assets of the area in one. However, it was unrealistic to expect these kinds of endeavours to continue to be organised on a purely volunteer basis.
Finally LF said that HLF was her ‘baby’, of which she will always be very proud.
4. In response to a question from the floor, Valerie and June explained that the decline in numbers for this year appeared to be due to a number of factors: the lack of a ‘big name’; other events scheduled on the same day or immediately after, ie Bookfest, New Forest Lit Fest run by Hampshire CC,
Guildford Book Festival (18
– 27 Oct); and also an area WEA meeting. The fact that there is no Cultural Officer or budget for the Arts in the Borough, not even a ‘champion’ for the arts, also has an effect.
Colin Telford of Hayling Island Bookshop confirmed that Bookfest was a partnership between HIBS and Portsmouth City Council. Management of the event was much easier with a unitary authority than in areas where library, schools, arts, and box office services and literary development responsibility are split between district and county councils. He also confirmed that the
ACE application was completed by a PCC officer with experience in the grant process.
Sue Leach, Libraries Outreach Manager, said that they would be delighted to host events in libraries but they only have eight staff for the County. She also confirmed that the Literary Development Officer, Angel Hicken, was not employed by the Libraries Service.
A general conversation ensued and it was generally agreed that the current situation with HLF has come about through a lack of new blood and people with the requisite time and energy which the enterprise demands, rather than because of a lack of money or vision. All present expressed the hope that a way would be found for the Festival to continue in some form, either in its own right or as one strand of a wider Arts celebration.
Peter Hammond agreed to contact the organiser of the recent, very successful Wemsfest, and other individuals in the Borough who had

experience of professional Festival management and promotion, for their advice and insights.
It was decided to take no further action before the pending audit and preparation of the annual accounts.
Valerie pointed out that the Festival Constitution states that in the event of
Dissolution, any remaining funds will be donated to The Spring Arts &
Heritage Centre, with the proviso that they be spent on literary events. It was believed around £2,000 - £3,000 would be in the accounts once they had been audited.
The meeting closed with thanks to the attendees at 8.30pm.