AS excitement builds for next weekends Broughton Hall Children’s Literature Festival, a local chocolatier has launched a Willy Wonka-inspired competition where 500 lucky children will receive a Golden Ticket.

Skipton-based confectionery producer Whitaker’s Chocolate has created 20,000 limited edition ‘Billy Bonkers’ chocolate bars to celebrate the first staging of the festival.

In 500 of the bars will be a Golden Ticket which will guarantee the holder free entry to the festival at Broughton Hall in Skipton, on Saturday, September 29, and Sunday 30.

The competition is inspired by the classic Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in which enigmatic chocolatier Willy Wonka hands out five golden tickets in his chocolate bars for an exclusive tour of his highly-secretive factory.

The Billy Bonkers bars will be on sale in local supermarkets across the district, such as Booths, Sainsburys, Tesco, Keelham’s Farm Shops, Waitrose, the Co-operative and Asda.

William Whitaker is the managing director of the chocolate company and the fourth generation of the family to run the firm, which was founded in 1889 from a grocer’s shop in Cross Hills and now supplies chocolate products across the world.

He said: “We’re thrilled to have joined forces with the Children’s Literature Festival.

“It’s fantastic to be part of such a great event which will inspire children to embrace and enjoy the written word.

“We hope that our Billy Bonkers bars competition encourages young people to get involved with the festival and will strengthen their enthusiasm for literature.”

More than 400,000 children are expected to attend the literature festival to meet authors such as Sir Chris Hoy, Clare Balding, and Maya G. Leonard, alongside poets, illustrators and animators.

Retired teacher Trevor Wilson, who has created the festival, added: “Whitakers is world-renowned for its quality and variety of chocolate so it’s fantastic to have the team on board, supporting our local festival.

“We’re passionate about boosting young people’s interest in literature and think the excitement and anticipation of emulating a children’s literary classic by finding a winning ticket inside our Bonkers Whitakers chocolate bar is a perfect way to get children engaged before the festival even begins!”

Mr Wilson, from Oakworth, started his teaching career in Shadwell, Leeds, before moving to the Bahamas in 1975 to teach maths and PE.

He then moved to the Cayman Islands to teach in 1979, before returning to Yorkshire in 1988.

Mr Wilson went on to teach at Malsis Hall near Skipton and Westville House School in Ilkley, before retiring in 2005.

He is currently the managing director of Silsden-based Authors Abroad, which organises author visits to schools across the world, and the festival sees him fulfil a lifelong dream of bringing some of the biggest names in children’s literature to Broughton Hall, which has stood in Skipton since the 16th Century.

As well as promoting literacy, the festival is also raising money for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, a mental health charity which works in schools to try and combat issues such as cyber-bullying.

To book tickets for the festival, visit childrensliteraturefestival.org