Festival hopes to inspire children to read

Organisers of a festival in Staffordshire hope to inspire hundreds of children to read.

The Festival of Brilliant at Biddulph Old Hall will include theatre, dance, acrobatics, circus acts and author readings in the grounds of the 14th Century residence.

Sarah Bird, Director of Outside Arts, described reading as a gift and has set out to make the annual event as enjoyable as possible for children.

"We passionately believe that stories and reading have the power to transform people's lives for the better and make them happier," she said.

One thousand pupils from across the Staffordshire Moorlands will attend the event on Friday and a public celebration will take place for families on Saturday.

Ms Bird said reading for pleasure was at an all-time low and that competition for children's attention had never been higher.

"Books can offer confidence, creativity, innovation, empathy and can really feed children's mental wellbeing," she said.

"There's no surprise there's a correlation there between instances of mental health challenges in young people at the same time as there's this big dip in reading for pleasure.

"We want the children to be able to suspend their disbelief and step into a fairytale world."

Her creative team have listened to local librarians, authors and families to shape their programme of events for the weekend.

One of the ideas suggested by a youth advisory group of teenagers was a Harry Potter film night, which will take place on Friday evening.

A number of popular children's authors will attend the event, including the Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell Boyce.

The organisers said they hoped that by staging the event in July it would spark an enthusiasm for reading ahead of the summer holidays, a period when children generally read less frequently.