News

Hot off the heels of the Ramsey crowdfunder. We've opened another one for IM7! 

Thanks to a generous £2,500 pledge from the Gough Ritchie Charitable Trust, we were already halfway towards opening Imagination Library registration in IM7 (Andreas, Ballaugh, Bride, Jurby, Lezayre and Maughold) - but we have to raise the funds by the 5th April.

A local benefactor, who recognises the importance of reading as one of the foundations of education and lifelong skills, was pleased to offer financial support towards bringing Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to IM7. 🥰 

We’ve also had a fantastic £136.61 in cash (plus online donations) raised by the Ballaugh School World Book Day cake sale – thank you to everyone who baked, bought and organised it. 🎂 🧁 🍰 

Together this has moved us closer to our goal of £5,000, which will allow the 190 children under five to receive a free book through the post every month.  We’re now at £3,978 (or 80% funded) – so the finish line is in sight. 🤓 

If you know anyone else who may be able to help, please share the link IM7 Crowdfunder.

We were interviewed by Siobhán Fletcher back in 2024 when we first launched our fundraising campaign and she was kind enough to have us back to share the good news about Douglas being open for Registrations.

We were featured on the Manx Radio Breakfast Show with Ben Hartley and an article and audio clip was posted on the Manx Radio website.

Many thanks to Scott and the team at Port St Mary Co-op who submitted an application on our behalf for the Co-op Community Donation.

The £250 will fund 115 high-quality, age-appropriate books delivered directly to under fives. 😃 

It was especially nice of Dolly to dress up in the Co-op brand colours too. 💙

Scott is keen to support more local charities and clubs - if you know anyone looking for funds, send him your details.

At the Tynwald Select Committee on Poverty hearing, Graham Kinrade (Chief Executive of the Department of Education, Sport and Culture) cited the lack of access to literacy materials prior to starting school as a major contributor to the academic attainment gap.

"There is some... evidential cause around children who don't have the same access to literacy products, literacy materials before they start school or early within starting school.  Children who are very used to reading and very used to accessing literacy materials will have better reading ages and better language abilities.  And of course the language is a fantastic gateway to the rest of the curriculum. So if you struggle within your language abilities then you're going to struggle over time to access the rest of the curriculum"

A heartfelt thank you to Nedbank Private Wealth for selecting the Isle of Man Imagination Library as one of their nominated charities this year.

Their £500 donation, raised through staff-led social and charity events, will help us provide free books to children across the Isle of Man - inspiring a lifelong love of reading.

Generous Donation from PDMS

A huge thank you to PDMS for their generous donation to the Isle of Man Imagination Library. 

With a long track record in the education and skills sector, PDMS has consistently championed opportunities for learning and development - values that align perfectly with our mission to inspire a love of reading from the very start.

Their donation brings us 437 books closer to our target!

Zurich Charity Grant

We were delighted to receive a £250 Zurich Charity Grant, awarded through their staff nomination scheme.

It was a real honour to be recognised alongside so many other local charities at their presentation event.

Dolly joined us for the occasion, winning plenty of fans (and a few selfies!) - and we can confirm the cupcakes were as good as the company.

MTG Superheroes Bake-Off

MTG (Manx Technology Group) held a Superheroes Bake-Off and raised £57.64 for the Isle of Man Imagination Library.  

Not bad considering it wasn't meant to be a fundraiser but when the SumUp machine was placed beside the cakes, generous colleagues funded 26 books for Manx children. 

We were delighted to be invited to a dinner with the Rotary Club of Rushen and Western Mann, where we had the chance to present about the Isle of Man Imagination Library. 

Representatives from the Rotary Clubs of Onchan, Douglas, and the Inner Wheel also joined us for the evening.

We’re now proudly recognised as Friends of Rotary, complete with our pin badges, and we look forward to working together to help bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to the Isle of Man.

The official launch of our fundraising campaign was at Tynwald Fair.  The weather defied all forecasts and was gloriously sunny.

We had a 'reading' gazebo with books, a teepee, a giant bean bag, a couple of comfy armchairs, lots of kids' chairs and teddies.  Oh, and Dolly, of course!  We had a constant stream of visitors all day playing in our unofficial creche, interested in helping to bring the Imagination Library to the island and, on one occasion, trying to buy Dolly! 😀  

Ange and Trish were interviewed for Manx Radio by the very lovely Siobhán Fletcher, who did her best to make us feel at ease.  It was lovely to see the donations dropping throughout the day as the cause obvious resonated with people.

You can read the article or listen to the whole interview on the Manx Radio website.