News

Congratulations to Charterhouse Lombard on celebrating 30 years in business!

To mark the occasion, they've chosen to support our Ramsey crowdfunder, funding a year's worth of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library books for 30 Ramsey children.

Did you know? Dolly Parton launched the Imagination Library 30 years ago, making it a fitting coincidence that Charterhouse Lombard is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. 

Since then, the programme has gifted a third of a billion books to children around the world.

Charterhouse Lombard's generosity brings us another step closer to opening Ramsey to the Imagination Library. We're now 67% of the way to our fundraising goal, with just £3,000 left to raise before registrations can open.  If you'd like to help us open Ramsey to the Imagination Library, we'd love your support.

FIM Capital were pleased to support the Isle of Man Imagination Library with a donation of £250.

FIM Capital are proud to play a small part in supporting children and families across the Isle of Man through this valuable initiative. 📚✨

Does anyone remember the Dolly Parton tribute act at the Peel Centenary Centre in 2017?  Well, she remembered Peel! 💛

When Sarah Jayne Crust brought her Dolly Parton show to Peel, she did what they do at every theatre performance of The Country Superstars - shared the story of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and its mission to get books into the hands of young children. 📚

Sarah Jayne told us she remembers some of the lovely ladies in the Peel audience saying what a wonderful idea it was, and how they wished the programme was available on the Isle of Man.  All these years later, as we work to make that happen in Peel, we’re absolutely delighted and incredibly grateful that Sarah Jayne and Andy Crust have chosen to support us with a very generous £500 donation.

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.