Andover’s A-Fest is to launch a youth directory to help parents and young people in the area find the organisations that appeal to them.

The site is intended to signpost members of the public to the various groups that are available around Andover, and act as a way of continuing the work of A-Fest to raise awareness throughout the year.

The plan was announced during a meeting of Andover Town Council’s Budgets and Staffing Committee last night (September 2), where A-Fest co-organiser Katherine Bird was asking for funding for the festival to be renewed for the next year.

Speaking at the meeting, Bird said: “A lot of parents who don’t necessarily know what’s on, what’s around and what’s open post-Covid, so a single resource should do that. It would be very powerful.”

A-Fest’s organisers plan to work with Test Valley Borough Council and Andover Business Improvement District (BID), who host other directories, so that their work doesn’t overlap. Andover BID launched their directory for businesses, INANDOVER, in August this year.

The request for funds came as the town council’s payment to A-Fest is still to be signed off, despite councillors having previously approved the payment.

Bird said that it was becoming “a bit embarrassing” for the group, which was given £2,400 in the council’s budget this year, and they were having to delay payment to their suppliers. The group have asked for at least a further £2,000 to fund next year’s event, though the exact amount is to be decided by the council at a later date.

Councillor Rebecca Meyer, Chairman of the Budgets and Staffing Committee, said that “with a lot of things, especially banking, that we are way behind with Covid."