Established in 2016, the David Vaisey Charitable Trust has not only made a major contribution to the continued success of the Gloucestershire Libraries organisation, it has effectively improved literacy and made a significant contribution to social cohesion across the county. A brief summary of the Trust’s activities is set out below. For details on how to make a direct contribution to the Trust, please contact the Treasurer: br@blackbournewells.com.

There are currently 39 public libraries in Gloucestershire. Pressures on local authority finances in recent years have resulted in eight of these becoming community libraries, albeit they receive an annual cash grant and can borrow books and work with the county library service. They all rely heavily on volunteers to maintain what is an important community service.

It was concern over this stringent situation that led the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire in 2016 to set up the David Vaisey Trust and to inaugurate an annual prize award, with the aim of stimulating and rewarding initiatives by the county librarians that would lead to more reading of books. The prize was named in honour of a son of Gloucestershire who, from a humble background won scholarships to school and to Oxford University; he then joined the Bodleian Library and rose to become head of this great institution. The Booker Prize Foundation was the initial core funder and was joined by the Bodleian Library, the JM Britton Trust, the Ernest Cook Trust, the Gloucestershire Community Foundation, the Honourable Company and, most recently, the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust. A number of individuals have also provided generous support.

Stimulated by the inception of the Vaisey Prize – now the Vaisey Awards – projects initiated by county libraries have focussed on literacy, children with learning difficulties, people in care homes, discussion groups and story-telling, pop-up libraries in the community and food banks. An example from the libraries shortlisted in 2021 typifies the benefits of the Prize: the library concerned initiated several new services – Click & Collect, Off The Shelf (we select and you read), Ring & Read – that resulted over the year in 6,000 new members, over 6,000 recommendations borrowed, and 147,000 reservations made.

Each year the Trustees appoint a panel of five judges with expertise in the literary field who, under the guidance of their chair, painstakingly assess every submission. Each library that enters the competition receives £100. Entries are whittled down to an initial long list from which four libraries are shortlisted and become eligible for an award. The judges then visit each shortlisted library before determining the extent of the Awards to be offered, and to whom. The winners are announced by a well-known figure from the literary world at The Times and The Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. Alan Bennett, a long-time friend of David Vaisey, was the first; he was followed by Sir Michael Morpurgo, Chris Riddell, Bernardine Evaristo and, in 2022, Damon Galgut. Libraries may use their initial and any subsequent Award to implement their ideas and initiatives.

The Vaisey Awards provide an incentive for library staff to develop initiatives that encourage more reading of books, that widens the circle of potential readers, and that engages with and reaches out to the local community. The county library service actively encourages collaboration between libraries to adopt successful initiatives and the Cheltenham Literature Festival gives profile to the Awards as part of its own educational outreach. In these ways the Trust is achieving a cultural impact that goes far beyond a prize-awarding event.

Despite the aforementioned financial pressures, it is significant that Gloucestershire has not lost a single public library, whereas there have been many casualties in surrounding counties. Moreover, the vitality of the library service is helping to sustain this happy situation.

For details of how to contribute, contact the Treasurer, details above.