What Shall We Name Our New Mascot?

Brilliant session last Saturday when we looked at alphabet poems for younger children. Fourteen young writers came along, including several of our recent recruits - it is always nice when they think it's fun enough to come back to!

I had a few Certificates to give out and the assignment set was to write a story using as many words with the same letter as possible - for example: A boy called Ben loved bananas and the more bent the bananas were, the better Ben liked it!  But one day, Ben came back from the bent banana shop with straight bananas!  "Bother!" said Ben.  "Better blend these bananas or make banana butter with them!"  Repetitive sounds make good stories for little people just learning to read and they are fun to try.  They don't even have to make a lot of sense as long as the letter sound is used often.  I think most of them got it and, of course, any returned to me will count towards their next certificate.

It was such a good session with a great atmosphere and everyone seemed really relaxed.  It got a bit crazy towards the end when lots of you came over to talk to me - which is great - but because I was answering questions and chatting I forgot to mention our new mascot until the very last second. So far I have had two name suggestions - Ted and Barnaby - but I would like some more so please could you do me a big favour and remind the members to bring their suggestions in next time so that we can carry on with the diary. Thank you.

Further to the vote a couple of weeks ago to mark our fifth anniversary with a party, I will be contacting the library team this week to ask how this can be accommodated.  Once I know where and when, we can look at organising it and I will try to get some special guests along, so watch this space for further info.

Back next Saturday which is 4th February.  See you then - and Good Writing!

Don't Forget ...

Hello everyone; hope you are all ok.  Just a brief reminder that we have a session at Ashburton Library this Saturday so I hope the children have got some name ideas for our new mascot. It would also be really nice to see some of the newbies from the previous session who will, hopefully, have decided they want to come back.

I am still keen to hear from anyone who might be interested in staying at the sessions to help me with supervising the group.  An interest in writing would be an advantage but mainly being able to commit to one hour twice a month is paramount if the group is to continue - or even if two of you did one hour each it would be helpful!  Please come back to me ASAP if you would like to help out, or come and see me on Saturday.

Finally I am aware that I have not produced a newsletter for a few months and I am looking to rectify that this year - even if I only manage one every six months.

See you Saturday.

Who Is Our New Bear ...

Amazing first session of the year last Saturday when fourteen Young Writers turned up, including five possible new members!  What a cracking start to 2017!  I am afraid I was not really at my best, though.  I was feeling somewhat under the weather but I am pleased to relate that I am now feeling much better and I thank you all for your kind concern.

I was most pleased to be able to bring along the new Mascot having retired Maddy who had started coming apart at the seams (she is certainly a well loved bear who has had lots of exciting adventures). I asked the children for ideas for names and part of their challenge for the next session is to come up with some suggestions.  The name that comes up most will be the winner. For the Young Writers' information, our new bear is male as opposed to female, so hopefully any suggestions will take that into consideration.

One of the key topics for last Saturday was to decide how Addiscombe Young Writers should celebrate its fifth birthday this year.  I made a number of suggestions and the one that got the biggest show of hands was a party, so I will discuss this with our lovely librarians and find out the best way to proceed. I do have one other idea in mind which I will come back to in due course - I need to do some research first.

There was no specific assignment set - being the first session after the Christmas break - these will start again next session.  But I did say that if the Young Writers want to write something and present it on the 21st at our next session, it will still count towards their next certificate.  On this occasion anything goes - poem, story, letter, review - whatever they like.

Finally big thanks to all the members who presented letters to their favourite authors.  I will go through these in time for the next session.

'Til then - have a good January.

Heres To 2017!

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to the first blog post of 2017!  I hope you all had a great Christmas and that the Young Writers are raring to go.  I think our Presentation session on 17th December went really well.  I am so pleased everyone liked their present and I could see how proud they all were to receive their richly deserved awards. Many thanks to everyone who came along and for all your support.  It was a lovely hour or so and, as I said at the time, I am so proud of everyone!

Thank you for all the cards and presents.  It was very thoughtful and very much appreciated.  Our Christmas went very well and was one long round of visits and nibbles.  I now have enough chocolate to last me until Easter - and it probably will!  On 30th December, we went away for New Year and stayed at a nice hotel in Paignton, Devon.  So all in all it has been a busy but very enjoyable time.

This year, Addiscombe Young Writers celebrates its fifth birthday and I am hoping to organise something a little bit special to mark the occasion.  I will also be launching a couple of competitions over the coming sessions so keep an eye on the blog.

Don't forget we have a session this Saturday, 7th January, same place, same time and I am looking forward to seeing you all.  I also have a very special surprise ...

See you Saturday