The organisers of Wantage Literary Festival have heralded a “much valued” donation of £1,000.

Festival trustees received the money from Persimmon Homes Wessex in a cheque presentation outside the Beacon community centre in Portway.

Ben Dreyer, chairman of the festival, said: “We’re very grateful to Persimmon for their support for our festival. We are a volunteer-led charity that relies on local businesses and organisations to put on these events so to add another name to the roster is much valued.

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Herald Series: Festival volunteers (left to right) Mike White, Judith Knight and Victoria Lympus

“We’ve got a really exciting programme for this year’s festival and we look forward to welcoming faces old and new to Wantage next month.”

The festival runs from October 21 until November 4.

As part of the donation, the homebuilders will be sponsoring ‘Kings and Queens: 1,100 Years of English and British Monarchs’ event with Kate Mansey, assistant editor of The Mail on Sunday, Alex Burghart, MP for Brentwood and Ongar, historian Jane Ridley, and broadcaster and author Iain Dale.

The panel will be held at the Beacon at 2pm on Saturday, October 21.

Pauline Fletcher, director of Persimmon Homes Wessex, said: “We’re delighted to supporting a local institution in the Wantage Literary Festival, which has brought so much joy to people from Oxfordshire and beyond for several years.”

Persimmon is currently developing at Wellington Gate, a multi-phase site that will bring 2,500 new homes on the old airfield site in Grove.

Herald Series: The £1,000 cheque was presented outside the Beacon community centre in Portway.