Book Festival raises over £4000 for Oxfam

The first Alderley Edge Book Festival attracted around 500 visitors at the weekend and raised over £4000 for charity.

Hosted by Oxfam, the two day event at the Festival Hall was opened by former MP Edwina Currie, who entertained the audience with a reading from the latest instalment of her memoirs.

The weekend's packed programme featured an impressive line-up of writers giving talks and readings from their work, including writer, poet and playwright Jackie Kay, poet Mike Garry and best-selling novelist Erica James.

There were also storytelling sessions for the children, complete with toys and props, and older children had the opportunity to meet novelists Livi Michael, Jon Mayhew and the acclaimed teen fiction author, Melvin Burgess.

On Sunday a number of rare and antique books went under the hammer with TV auctioneer Adam Partridge. The highlight of the auction was a rare, first edition of the J.M. Barrie classic, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, which was discovered at the Alderley Edge Oxfam Book Shop a couple of weeks ago.

The 1906 limited first edition, illustrated with around fifty colour plates by Arthur Rackham, who had signed the book himself, sold for £1700.

The buyer was Simon Fox, a 37-year-old office worker from Bury, who bought the book partly as in investment, but also for his two boys because they love Peter Pan and traditional children's literature.

Katie Robb, manager of the Alderley Edge Oxfam Bookshop, said: "This was a fantastic event and it was great to see just how much everyone enjoyed themselves.

"The children's activities and storytelling were hugely popular, the author readings well-attended and, of course, the auction on Sunday was a real highlight. Altogether, we raised more than £4,000 which will help fund Oxfam education projects in the developing world.

"I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all our generous participants and hard-working volunteers. Without you, none of this would have been possible."

Photos: Edwina Currie who opened the festival and Katie Robb, with the rare classic Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, by Della Batchelor. Teen fiction author Sherry Ashworth with Wilmslow High School students Jack Davies and Sophie Kraunsoe by by Jon Parker Lee.