John Dougherty (Chair) is the award-winning author of over thirty books for children, including fiction, picture-books, poetry, and educational reading scheme content. From 2013-2015, John chaired the Society of Authors’ Children’s Writers & Illustrators Group. He was one of the first Patrons of Reading in the UK and is a Founding Patron of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. A resident of Stroud since 2004, John has been involved with the Stroud Book Festival since its inception and is a fervent supporter of, and campaigner for, a strong public library service.
John’s thoughts on libraries are here.
Bill Armiger was appointed Deputy Headmaster of the Crypt School, Gloucester, in 1978 and became Headmaster in 1990. Since 1972 he’s been closely involved with the Three Choirs Festival, serving as Director and Trustee of related organisations including as Secretary/Chief Executive of Gloucester Three Choirs Festival. He combined a professional teaching career with the role of senior lay-clerk and chorister tutor with the of Gloucester Cathedral choir, as well as that of semi-professional soloist – furthering his interest in the composition of sacred and secular choral music. Bill still sings with the St. Cecilia Singers of Gloucester and the Standish Consort (an Oxford University Alumni Choir). Secretary of The Friends of Gloucester Cathedral for six years, he was also Founder, Trustee and Secretary of the Sanders Society – a charity formed in 2008 to continue the musical influence of Dr. John Sanders (late Organist and Master of the Choristers of Gloucester Cathedral). He also administers the John Sanders Memorial Competition for Young Composers, which draws entries from a wide international field.
Click here for Bill’s thoughts on libraries.
Jane Bailey was born and brought up in Gloucestershire. She has written eight novels, including Tommy Glover’s Sketch of Heaven, What Was Rescued, Lark Song and Sorry Isn’t Good Enough, and has twice been shortlisted for literary awards. Jane chaired the Poetry Café and the Big Read at Cheltenham Literature Festival for many years. She was also writer-in-residence for Cheltenham Festivals First Story for some years, which took creative writing to young people in schools serving less affluent areas. As part of this she edited four anthologies of work by young people, as well as for the Beyond Words initiative of Gloucestershire Hospitals Education Service.
Hereward Corbett was born on a farm in Sussex and as a child spent many hours in Hastings Public Library. He has worked in bookselling since the late 1980s, and currently runs the two Yellow-Lighted Bookshops in Tetbury and Nailsworth. He is a slow but persistent reader, and is passionate about words, stories, and how they enable people to understand and change their lives.
Julian Hasler is an arable farmer living near Tetbury; with a degree in Sciences and English Literature he has been a voracious reader from an early age.
See Julian’s comments on libraries here.
Marianne Hinton was born in New York City, where she was director of a gallery that represented artists who painted murals, portraits, furniture, walls, floors, indeed any surface on which an illusion could be sustained – hence the gallery name: Trompe L’Oeil, which translates as to ‘fool the eye’. She first came to London in 1976 to do the Sotheby’s Art Course. In 1991 she retrained as a ceramic restorer, again in London. Marianne was a member of the development board of the Gate Theatre, London, and was on the Cross Festival Advisory committee of the Cheltenham Festivals for 8 years. As befits a member of the London Library, she loves libraries, indeed she sometimes wishes she’d trained as a librarian.
Here are Marianne’s thoughts on libraries.
