Dorchester Literary Festival to support Weldmar Hospicecare, as both mark milestone anniversaries

The popular local literary festival, organised by Janet Gleeson and Paul Atterbury, has again chosen Weldmar Hospicecare to be their nominated charity for 2024. The Dorchester Literary Festival is celebrating it’s 10th year of running the event, in the same year that Weldmar Hospicecare are celebrating 30 years since the hospice doors opened.

Running between the 12th and 19th of October, over 30 events will be hosted in venues across Dorchester including the Dorford Centre, Dorchester Library, Dorset Museum, and the Shire Hall Museum.

The line up includes some well known names; John Suchet, news reporter, presenter and acknowledged authority on Beethoven will be discussing his latest book on the subject Searching for Beethoven; Award winning novelist Kate Mosse will be appearing to discuss her book Map of Bones, a sequel to the bestseller The Ghost Ship; Clare Balding, award winning writer and broadcaster will be talking about her canine adventure through Britain, Isle of Dogs; Presenter Kate Humble will be getting attendees to reimagine whatever they consider ‘home’, when she discusses her book Where the Hearth is.

The festival was officially launched on Wednesday 25th September, and Fiona Hansford and April Ward for the fundraising team attended to represent the charity. Dorchester bookshop manager Rob Mutter, and his team of staff and volunteers raised £300 on the night with a book tombola, and the Dorchester Literary Festival will be continuing to fundraise for Weldmar throughout the festival.

Thank you to Janet, Paul, and the rest of the team at Dorchester Literary Festival for their support.