Sponsoring Sewing Bee's Patrick Grant this May
This year at CG Optical, we’re also sponsoring Patrick Grant at the Stratford Literary Festival - a familiar face across the nation thanks to his role on the popular BBC reality programme, that has been running since 2013.
The ‘Prince of Fashion’, best known for his role as judge of the BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee, built his business from total obscurity to become a dresser of the stars, a friend of the King, and a leader in the fashion industry. He’ll share his love for clothes but dislike of the way they’re made, and everything wrong with the three trillion-dollar fashion industry today that accounts for 10% of global carbon emissions, with UK consumers spending over £30b on clothing each year, but less than 2% of it is made here. And he’ll share how we can put it right.
Lead Sponsors of the Stratford Literary Festival 2024
We are very proud to announce, here at CG Optical, that we are Lead Sponsors of Stratford Literary Festival for 2024. The festival gives the community a chance to hear from some great writers, get involved in workshops and dive into topics they might not have otherwise considered.
Along with delivering the festivals every year, the Stratford Literary Festival is a charity that works throughout the year to help young children have access to books and carry out bedtime story writing workshops in prisons.
In 2023 they visited schools across our region and inspired over 1000 children with workshops and author events.
Schools they have visited include:
- Alveston Primary, Stratford
- Bridgetown Primary, Stratford
- Coten End Primary School, Warwick
- Moseley Primary School, Coventry
- Our Lady of the Magnificat, Redditch
- Quinton Primary School
- Templars Primary School, Coventry
- Welcombe Hills Special School, Stratford
- Plus a free event for toddlers at Stratford Library
In 2023 they took their hugely successful workshops into 6 prisons, helping over 50 prisoners write a story for their children The aim of the workshop is to create a story written by each prisoner that their children will enjoy and which will help to lessen the trauma of their absence from their lives. They work with children's authors Hollie Hughes and Smriti Halls, and writer Patrick Kincaid.
Prisons visited include:
- HMP Belmarsh
- HMP Lincoln
- HMP Thameside
- HMP Wandsworth
We're also sponsoring the wonderful Val McDermid and Sewing Bee's Patrick Grant - both appearing at this years festival.
