Moving On ...

First of all I'd like to just remind everyone about this Saturday's Young Writer session at Ashburton Library.  This will be the last session of this school year and I am not expecting everyone to turn up. I know a lot of families go on their summer holidays as soon as the schools break up, so don't feel bad if you can't make it. The first session after the break is on 10th September and  I will have the next newsletter ready by then as well with all the new session dates on it.

Please please ensure you get all work intended for Word Magic 2 back to me this Saturday or your young authors may miss out which would be an horrendous shame after all their hard work.  If you really really really can't get it back to me by then, text me  ASAP and we will work something out. Steve and I are likely to be moving around the second week in August now, so please don't drop it off at the house (if I have given you my current address) after that because I will not get it and it will likely as not be lost for ever.  I have been telling everyone for months when I need the work in so please do your best to get it to me this Saturday if you can.

As mentioned in the last blog-post, I will be running a competition this year as the summer project and I am going to start work on that very soon.  I will be leaving spare copies of the entry form at the library for those who can't make it this weekend.  There will be bronze, silver and gold awards for the three best entries but everyone who joins in will earn a special certificate so it definitely worth a go.  I won't be judging the competition, I am going to ask somebody else to do that so that it is fair.  It would be quite hard for me to pick the winners as I know most of the Young Writers' styles by now and also quite a lot of their handwriting, so I feel it would be much better for someone else to judge it.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday and if you are away by then, have a really great summer and I'll see you all in September.

Good Writing everyone!

Perfect Day For A Picnic ...

We had a brilliant time last Saturday at the popular Picnic In The Park session.  The weather was very kind to us and the rain held off for the whole hour which was rather handy!  We started, as ever, with a mad five minutes on the swings, slides, see-saws and roundabouts, then everybody came back to the picnic benches where the Young Writers were given sheets to record what they could see, hear and smell whilst outside.  Then it was another mad five minutes before they were called back to finish their reports and finally a mad ten minutes before we got on with the important bit - our snacks and drinks.  I think around ten children turned up so massive thanks to everyone and an even bigger thanks to the mums who hung around to help Vicky and I supervise.  It was a huge success and I am convinced that it offers up a unique opportunity for the Young Writers to practise their observational skills whilst burning off some excess energy. Well done to everyone who took part and thank you once again.

As the children were playing, I announced to the mums present that Steve and myself will be moving out of Addiscombe around the end of August.  We have lived there for eighteen years and just feel it is the right time for a change.  The plan is that we will live in Sutton for the next 3 to 5 years and during that time - and for as long as possible - I will continue to run AYW.  It is easy enough to get to the library from where we will be living.  But the longer term plan is to retire down to the South Coast and obviously, then, continuing the Young Writers won't be an option.  Having said that, though, it won't affect the current members really because by then,   most of them will have moved on to High School and may well have developed other interests.  So there is no need to worry.  For the foreseeable future, anyway, it will be As You Were with the sessions taking place two Saturdays a month at Ashburton Library as normal.

Finally, before I go, a quick reminder to everyone whose work has been earmarked for the new Word Magic book - please, please ensure they are brought in to our final session before the summer break, which is on 23rd July - and if your child is fairly new to the group but has some work they'd like considered, then please bring that along as well but let me know on that day so you can complete a consent form and the Young Writer can fill out their Author Profile - I will ensure I have spare copies of each on that Saturday.

And last but not least - I will be running a competition to keep them busy during the summer - more info on 23rd.  See you then.

Poor Maddie ...

Everyone knows about the AYW mascot - Maddie - the little golden bear who proudly sports her AYW tee-shirt with extreme pride.  Maddie loves her exciting lifestyle where she is constantly staying in different homes where all her adventures are recorded in her diary.

But oh dear me!  I think she partied a little too hard last time because when she came back to me, one ear was hanging off and stuffing was coming out of her chest!!!  When I asked her what she'd been up to, she just smiled at me very cheekily!

The good news is that she is now all mended and better and her tee-shirt is nice and clean so she will be back with the Young Writers on Saturday.  But please can whoever takes her home take extra special care of her?

I don't want to have to take her back to the Teddy Hospital again ...

On a different note - massive thanks to everyone who turned up at the last session where we worked in pairs to write poems.  And a special thank you to those who turned up at the Workshop at Croydon Central library on Monday.  It was brilliant to see people from so many different places - Croydon Literacy, Children Who Shine and  AYW to help us with the creation of The Magical Quest - a wonderful story about twins who go on a quest to find The Lost Book Of All Languages.  Everyone worked really hard with their ideas and we are hoping that copies of the finished story will be available to everyone who took part very soon.  Thank you all again - especially to Jenny who instigated the event.  We had a brilliant time!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at this Saturday's session - and don't forget we have the Picnic in the Park the following Saturday (2nd July).  And please - if you have not yet returned your Author Profiles and Consent forms, they really do need to brought back ASAP if you want your work to appear in Word Magic 2 later this year.

And finally thank you to everyone who has recently bought copies of My Writer - if you know anyone else who would like a copy, let me know.

See you Saturday and Good Writing!!!

Back From Bonny Scotland ...

Just got back from a smashing week in Oban in Scotland.  Had plenty of time to relax and plan ahead and look at everything going on.  Decided it would be great to go back to poetry for this week's session (11th June) - maybe being in the homeland of Robert Burns had something to do with it!

I have lots of preparation to do in the coming weeks - one thing I will be doing is the workshop with Croydon Literacy on Monday 20th June, 5pm - 6.30 pm.  I will be handing out invitations to this event this Saturday and everyone is welcome.  It'll be structured quite differently from a Young Writer session and is guaranteed to get the creative juices flowing - so why not come along and join us on The Magical Quest on 20th June?  

On 18th June, I will be running a stall in Croydon as part of Croydon Heritage Festival.  I'll be selling copies of my books but mainly I will be advertising Addsicombe Young Writers so if you are around Croydon that day, why not come along and say hello?

On 25th June, I have got a stall at the Woodside Primary School summer fayre from 12 - 4 where I will be selling copies of  My Writer and I have also been asked to consider doing a Creative Writing workshop from adults at Ashburton Library so if this is something you would be interested in, let me know and I will keep you updated.

I am still waiting on a few consent and author profile forms from everyone who wants to be included in Word Magic 2 and I will follow up on this on Saturday so if you haven't handed yours in yet please do so ASAP - I cannot stress how important this is!

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday. Good Writing everyone!

AYW - ok

Hi everyone.  Been another busy two weeks but you will be pleased to hear that the latest newsletter - AYW - ok is all done and ready to go out at tomorrow's session.  Have also got the worksheet ready. Further to requests earlier this year for writing topics we haven't yet covered, this week, we will be looking at writing recipes.  But as usual, there will be a twist.  The Young Writers can either produce a real recipe, chocolate rice krispie cakes, fairy cakes or a favourite jacket potato topping, for example - or they can invent one - like a scare-the spider-away potion or perhaps a bounce-about-like-a-bubble cookie; whatever their choice, this is something new and I think it could be lots of fun!

Picnic-in-the-Park - this session will be on 2nd July (weather permitting) so pack your snacks and drinks that day and we'll head over to Ashbuton after meeting at the library.  Need lots of mums and dads to help supervise so why not make it a family occasion?  The last two have been a huge success and the sessions give the Young Writers new opportunities to explore, listen, look - and have loads of fun!  Definitely a win/win situation, I feel!

So see you all tomorrow, same time, same place!

BRILLIANT!!!

What a totally brilliant session we had on Saturday!  Sixteen children including several new members!  The session started with a brief reading from Eva Ibbotson's "The Great Ghost Rescue" to primarily demonstrate that not all Ghost Stories need to be scary.  This particular book is an absolute joy and was published way ahead of its time because it doesn't just talk about young Rick's bid to rescue the ghosts being driven out of their stately home to make way for a new Holiday Camp - it talks about conserving wildlife in general, which has long been a subject close to my heart!  But mostly it is a really good read - very funny.

Ghost Stories per se have not been properly covered before and most of the session was trying to get the Young Writers to use their imaginations.  I tried to kick-start them by giving them a worksheet with some suggestions but I think I gave them too much to work from because a lot of them seemed to struggle with it despite the fact it is a subject they have repeatedly asked for.    The valuable lesson I learned from this is that Less is More and my plan is to work on that basis from now on.  Having said that, though, by the end of the session, when I set the assignment to be handed in by 21st May, I think they were Up For It so it will be interesting to see their finished work.

Congratulations are in order for member Dhilon who became only the second member thus far, to achieve the Rainbow Band 2 Certificate.  His presentation book was about writing comic strip stories because I know it is a subject he has particularly enjoyed, so very well done, Dhilon.  Who will be our next?

The next session is on 21st May, by which time, I hope to have the date for our picnic in the park but see you in a couple of weeks.

Don't Forget Saturday's Session ...

It has been nuts the last couple of weeks - loads going on.  Finally got the session sheets for this Saturday done - just need to print them off - and half the latest AYW - ok newsletter - but that may need to wait for a week or two because I have a couple of things outside of the Young Writers I need to prepare for and time is of the essence.  Having said that though - great news!  One of our library allies told me about a competition for Young Writers currently being run by Explore Learning so I will delve more into that by Saturday and let any interested parties know.  ALSO - very aware we need to organise the Picnic in the Park so will come back to you with a date - in fact, will get it into the newsletter as well as onto the next post here on the AYW blog.

Looking forward to seeing you all at Saturday's session (7th May 9.30 to 10.30).