Tag Archives: nottinghamshire

I’m pretty busy this October half term..

I’m pretty busy this half term.  Come and see me in action.
Friday

My #librariesweek

Its National Libraries Week in the United Kingdom, a celebration of everything that’s great and glorious about public libraries and what they offer.  There have been countless events, talks and activities being hosted the length and breadth of the country and library authorities seem to have gone all out to demonstrate their value within the communities they serve.

I have got involved too as the #100mphdog has become the 100 mile dog with visits to Stoke on Trent, Bolton and Nottinghamshire as well as spending some time as a visitor to Telford Libraries ahead of my appearance at the Wellington Arts Festival 2017 (one of the largest free literary festivals in Britain).

As I type this its just gone 7am on Saturday morning and I’m en route to Bolton.  Tomorrow my day will be taken up with getting to and from Mansfield.  This morning the train is pretty busy and I’ve got a carton of orange juice, my lap top and a load of football fans for company.  I may be working all weekend away from Lauren and Verity but it’ll be worth it; Bolton are one of my favourite authorities to work with and the library team in Nottinghamshire are a lot of fun.  This weekend we’re not only celebrating #librariesweek but the Summer Reading Challenge as children and their families collect their certificates at ceremonies laid on by the library and I provide the entertainment.  I did a celebration event a few weeks back in Bromley and was struck by how much meeting the mayor meant to the children and their families.

I have probably said it in this blog before but its a real privilege to share stories in wonderful library spaces.  In recent weeks we have begun taking Verity along to rhyme time sessions and borrowing books with her.  She enjoys being in the library and literally eats books.  This year I celebrated 5 years of work with libraries.  What started with a handful of London’s libraries has expanded beyond my wildest expectations but I still love visiting new libraries and communities.  Whenever I work with a library they give me a platform to tell a story; it might entertain, inspire or challenge a young person and that’s brilliant on so many levels.  There’s a lot of satisfaction in knowing that the library believe in you and these days its affirming to see familiar faces in library audiences.  In Stoke on Trent we did two presentations; at Hanley and Stoke libraries.  I have been telling Jeremy Strong’s “The Hundred Mile an Hour Dog” since June; sometimes its the 5mph dog but so far this week its been the 110mph Dog.  One teacher even remarked that it had been worth filling in the risk assessment to see it!

Next week it won’t be libraries week and all the verve and vibrancy that has crammed my social media timelines will subside but library life will continue and it won’t be long before there’s another big event and libraries will pull out all the stops again.  As for myself I will be working hard to ensure that I can work with libraries in the very near future and that the events I offer continue to be of a standard and quality that these fine institutions deserve.

 

2017:the summer that zipped by at 100mph

So the six week holidays are coming to an end and another Summer Reading Challenge is drawing to its conclusion.  Once again thousands of young people have participated as readers and volunteers in libraries across Britain and once again I have played my small part in launching, enhancing and celebrating the challenge through storytelling.

This year my major project was Jeremy Strong’s “The Hundred Mile an Hour Dog”, a silly story about one boy’s efforts to train his chaotic pet.  I first presented the story in libraries in June and by the end of the summer between myself and Dan McGarry will have presented it over 80 times to just over 2500 people.  I have also been presenting Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.

I have had a very good summer and a lot of people have said a lot of very nice things about my work (I’ve met lots of lovely people, worked in a couple of new areas and for the first time I have been receiving reviews on Facebook).  This has been very flattering but I feel it’s really me that needs to thank people for their contributions to what must be classed as a successful project.

Lauren and Verity – I love you both and I’m looking forward to a family holiday; you deserve it.

Jeremy Strong and David Higham Associates – the author of this fantastically silly story and his agents has been a very active supporters of the project and their encouragement and flexibility has been important.

Dan McGarry – I can’t take credit for all the presentations.  In Northamptonshire sessions were delivered at all but two libraries and Dan brought his unique twist to the presentation of the story.

Joseph Attenborough – this is the fourth project where Joey supplied an original soundtrack for me to work with.  Whilst some would say music is unnecessary I say the music is a vital contribution, setting the tone of the story and the atmosphere at key moments.

Dan White – another valued contributor, Dan’s image of Streaker at full speed has appeared in libraries across the country (at one stage it dominated my twitter timeline almostly entirely!) and has really helped to attract an audience to the project.

The Libraries – we can have the best project ever but without library staff support nobody would come.  This year more than any other it has become clear just how crucial good library staff and their relationship with service users is in building a suitable audience for events.  I have discussed advertising in this blog before and once again word of mouth proved the best way of drawing a crowd.

The service users – my style of storytelling relies upon interaction and participation (if you come to my event I’m going to spray you with water and stick a silly wig on your head).  It has been brilliant to see young people at my events up and down the country willing to get involved in my madness with good humour.  It has also been great to see so many people who I met in 2016 whilst doing Roald Dahl’s “The Twits” returning to hear about Streaker.  As one storyteller said to me, this is the ultimate compliment.

One of the privileges and pleasures of this year’s Reading Challenge for me has been talking to people about stories and books and recommending new and old stories to children.  It is quite easy to become consumed by the logistics of delivering events at multiple venues (believe me, it’s a mammoth task) and lose sight of what it’s all about; the pleasure of reading.

I’m not going to lie, there have been mornings when my body has told me that I’m no longer in my twenties and there have been late nights when I have felt desperately guilty for leaving Lauren literally holding the baby but I have enjoyed it and have already started work on next year’s challenge.

For now though I’m preparing for the new school year.  I do have some more reading challenge dates into the autumn and then some more public appearances into the winter including a couple of small festivals.  Keep an eye on my website and I’ll look forward to continuing to share my work and any developments with you here soon.   For now though, Streaker and I are off to pick out a sun lounger on a Spanish beach!

#100mphdog

Things are coming together nicely for the summer tour of Jeremy Strong’s “The Hundred Mile an Hour Dog” and today I thought I’d share the poster image.

We are doing 99 presentations of  the story (I say we because these days its a team effort; Joseph Attenborough has agreed to create the soundtrack, the poster image for the project was created by Dan White and Dan McGarry is doing some presentations for me this summer so that I can have some time with my new family).  The dates are now up on the website so have a nose through and see if we’ll be passing your neck of the woods.

To keep in touch with what we get up to I’ll be using the hashtag #100mphdog on social media between June and October 2017.  I look forward to seeing you this summer!