Festival organisers Susannah Herbert (left) and Tessa Murray (right), stand with Carole Heaton (holding cheque), Alexis Nealson and children from Lena Gardens Primary School.

As many of you already know, thanks to our generous supporters, sponsors and event attendees, we raised over £4,000 for the children’s literacy charity Beanstalk (formerly Volunteer Reading Help). We officially handed them the cheque on January 21st, at an assembly at Lena Gardens Primary School.

Beanstalk are a terrific literacy charity, now celebrating their 40th year. They work with over 50 schools in West London, training volunteers to read with children. The sessions are designed to be fun: by reading, playing and talking with the volunteers, children gain reading skills, confidence, and eventually succeed.  Our donation will train seven volunteers, who can then go on to work with twenty-one local children during term time.

Our certificate: it’s official!

We’re glad to be supporting their cause. Since the love of reading starts with the ability to read, it makes perfect sense to channel our proceeds into support for nearby schools.

For more information on Beanstalk, or to volunteer, visit www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk

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Many people asked about the marvellous Mr Morpurgo, naturally, but there was a definite fan club for Artemis Cooper and Harriet Sergeant while the beautiful covers of Andrew Miller’s Pure and Kate Summerscale’s Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace were popular, especially among the French. Which is encouraging. Many thanks to everyone who signed on for updates. You are our core supporters. We loved meeting you.

Never mind Hay, Cheltenham, Edinburgh – small book festivals are the thing, from Aldeburgh to Ullapool, Dovedale to Auchinleck, Elgin to Penzance. In my own corner of west London, the Brook Green Festival of Books, founded by an enterprising Catholic parish priest, Terry Tastard, is entering its fifth year. Its audience is defiantly local – why drive to hear an author if you can walk? – but expanding: this autumn it is annexing the Bush Theatre (in happier times a library) and already promises Michael Morpurgo on his childhood, and Artemis Cooper on Patrick Leigh Fermor. But its ripples extend beyond Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith Broadway: after Sarah Montague, a local resident, chaired a talk by P. D. James, a local author, the grand old lady of crime fiction was invited to guest-edit the Today programme, where she famously made the BBC Director-General gibber.

We will be on Brook Green hawking our wares on Saturday 15 September – Brook Green Day – so please say hello then, or if you can’t wait, just email us on info@brookgreenfestival.org.uk and ‘like’ us on Facebook. We’ll then put you on our mailing list. If you are interested in spreading the word, we are looking for festival ‘ambassadors’ and welcome all thoughts and contributions and flashes of inspiration, whatever the source.

Susannah, Tessa and Miranda