Winter Update
Time really does fly doesn't it?! Well, Autumn has been very busy with Peepo and Caterpillar sessions at Bath, more Peepo at Cheltenham, a couple of Caterpillars in Folkestone and as I write, I'm just getting ready for my last Peepo sessions of the year down in the Winchester Discovery Centre.
The next job is to start working on next year's new session for Puffin Books - another Ahlberg classic, The Baby's Catalogue - very exciting! More news as it happens...
Summer Update
It's been a pretty busy first half of the year - sell out Peepo! sessions in Cambridge, Oxford and Brighton and a fabulous outdoor Moomins session at Snape! Thanks to everyone who came along and joined in so well with everything.
Also, I had great fun doing a 'Drama in 2 hours' with the boys at Scamps in Woodbridge - our version of Britain's Got Talent had arguing judges, brilliant acts and some brilliantly awful acts too! Another Woodbridge event on Saturday 25th June at Woodbridge Primary School Summer Fair - I'm doing some pre-school and school age storytelling and its open to all, so do come along if you can.
There are a couple more Peepo! dates booked for the Autumn, to add to the Bath Festival (see below) - a London date in October (just waiting for final confirmation), and Winchester Discovery Centre on Sunday 11th December. There's still a few more I'm waiting to hear from - more news as I have it!
My Facebook page is now up and running, so please do click through the link here to check out the latest news.
Peepo! It's 2011!
I'm back from maternity leave and already events are booking up for 2011! There are still Moomins and Very Hungry Caterpillar storyplaytime's going on at various book festivals across the country, but new for this year is Peepo! to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Janet and Allan Ahlberg's classic book. It's very tempting to use my own 6-month-old as the Peepo! baby for the sessions - he has the look! - but to be on the safe side I've got a very lovely cuddly toy baby instead!
The first outing of the Peepo! session is at the Oxford Literary Festival on Saturday 9th April (see link below), although there is a trial preview at Woodbridge Primary School on Wednesday 16th March, so if you're in the Woodbridge area and have got a pre-schooler you'd like to bring along to that do drop me an e-mail soon as places are limited.
Other confirmed Storyplaytime sessions this year include:
Saturday 9th April Peepo! sessions (the first!)
Saturday 16th April Peepo! and The Moomins sessions
Friday 22nd April The Moomins sessions
Saturday 21st May Peepo! sessions
Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Peepo! sessions
Still waiting to hear on some more festivals, so watch this space!
Moomins and Caterpillar success at London School of Economics!
On Saturday 19th February The Moomins and Very Hungry Caterpillar sesssions came to the London School of Economics Literary Festival, Crossing Borders ( www.lse.ac.uk/spaceforthought). Mums, dads and kids all joined in enthusiastically and we all had a great time - and a big well done to all those children who joined in so well with two sessions in a row! Here's what Louise Gaskell, Deputy Events Manager had to say:
"Feedback has been great, mostly asking for us to do it again next year!"
Archive News and Events from 2010
A short break!
I'm on maternity leave from 1st July, but will be back on e-mail from 1st November, if you want to get in touch. The wonderful Liz Burton-King, a great children's workshop leader - amongst many other strings to her bow! - will be covering my Storyplaytime work, so look out for her at Newcastle's Seven Stories, the Edinburgh Book Festival, Wigtown Book Festival, and Bath Festival of Children's Literature. See the festival websites for more information.
New book-themed storyplaytime sessions for 2010
2010 started off with a Very Hungry Caterpillar session in Beccles in Suffolk - the town where I grew up! It was lovely if a little strange to go back and I had a very warm welcome with lots of helpers willing to join in and have fun, so thanks to everyone for that! It was also great to be invited back to Brighton in March to do two days of Storyplaytime sessions at Children's Centre's across the area. The Very Hungry Caterpillar sessions once again proved popular, as did the new We're Going on a Bear Hunt sessions - thanks to Walker Books for permission for those.
I'm back in Brighton again for the festival this year on May 23rd with more Bear Hunt sessions, they do book up quickly so get in touch with the festival soon if you're interested in coming along.
There'll also be new sessions this year based on Tove Jansson's The Moomins books - see Liz's book festivals list above.
For more information on all Storyplaytime sessions, do visit my dedicated website for that work: www.storyplaytime.co.uk
Storytelling and training with Bag Books for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties
I've just finished working with Bag Books, who create wonderful interactive multi-sensory 'books in a box' for children with learning difficulties - and my 4 year old loves them too! I've been working on their Telling Tales lottery-funded project which involves linking up Special Needs schools with their local libraries for storytelling sessions, and training the librarians in delivering that storytelling. It's been great work and I've met some wonderful people including some very dedicated librarians - well done to you all for all your hard work if you're reading this! Bag Books have very kindly said they're happy for me to carry on telling the stories, so do get in touch if you'd like to book a storytelling session that includes some of these lovely multi-sensory stories.
Developing Organisations continues apace!
I'm still working with Business Link as a consultant for small charities on developing their organisations and fundraising. The work is very varied - from community groups to craft co-operatives - and I do love seeing organisations come to understand themselves better and so work more effectively for the communities they serve and care so passionately about. Do contact me if you'd like more information about this work.
Archive News and Events from 2009
Developing Organisations across the East
My organisational development work has been in high demand over the last few months, supporting a variety of organisations with their fundraising efforts and even building an Excel management accounting model to help a charity simplify the story of their figures! I've worked with the Green Light Trust on finding and communicating their organisational story; The Arts Centre, Dunmow to support their fundraising efforts to turn their upstairs space into a working studio theatre; Thalia Theatre Company in Norwich on researching their potential for development and I'm currently working with the Ipswich Polish Club on raising the funds to complete their major building work. More work is in the pipeline, and as one of Business Link's registered suppliers for consultancy, the enquiries are still coming thick and fast - its certainly keeping me busy!
Storyplaytime goes national with The Very Hungry Caterpillar!
After the success of the Very Hungry Catepillar Storyplaytime session at Woodbridge Children's Book Festival last October, I've been travelling the country throughout the Spring and Summer and Autumn to various book festivals with the session. I've been at:
I've had a great time doing these sessions - book festivals are wonderfully calm and inspiring places and I've developed and refined the sessions as I've gone along, and I've had brilliant feedback everywhere I've been. If you want more information about the festivals, click on the links above to open a new window with the festival's website. A few of the festivals have even asked me back next year, more news as its confirmed.
PASTEL Hip Hop Theatre Workshops
In the spring and summer I ran an 8-session Hip Hop Theatre course for PASTEL - a group that actively supports suffolk teenagers and young adults with a variety of learning difficulties. I worked with a great local dancer and choreographer Rebecca Harbour, and after running a couple of successful 'taster' workshops we began the the course proper. Drawing on my experience of devising shows with excluded teenagers in London, we worked together to devise and perform a show, based entirely on ideas generated from the young people. Along the way many of the participants also gained credits towards an OCN qualification in Assertiveness and Decision Making skills. If you'd like to see a video of the project and the final show 'The Battle of the Crews', or more information about PASTEL visit www.pastel.org.uk
Clore Leadership Programme Short Course follow up
I was in Royal Holloway in Surrey at the end of March for more facilitating for Clore on a three-day short course follow up. It was great to catch up with some familiar faces from previous short-courses, as well as meet some new ones - and wonderful to see how easily everyone clicked back into the Clore mentality and really seemed to get a lot out of the sessions. A great timetable with great speakers and great participants - fantastic!
Storyplaytime sessions
With all this other work going on, I decided to take a break from my weekly Storyplaytime sessions in Woodbridge, although it was great to finish in May with a Very Hungry Caterpillar session - nice to be able to bring the session back to where it originated!. I'm still offering Storyplaytime sessions as one-off sessions for parents or groups of parents who want to book sessions direct - for more information see my website www.storyplaytime.co.uk
Archive News and Events from 2008
Woodbridge Children's Book Festival - and more book festivals!
I ran two Storyplaytime sessions for the Woodbridge Children's Book Festival on Saturday 26th October. They were themed sessions, the first on 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen and the second on Eric Carle's 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. Both were well attended and we all had a wonderful time hunting bears and turning from Hungry Caterpillars into Beautiful Butterflies. Thank you to all the children and parents who joined in with such enthusiasm. In fact, the representative from Puffin who came to see the Caterpillar session was so impressed that she's already booked me to run two sessions for the Shrewsbury Book Festival next May, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the book. More festivals are due to come on board - so watch this space for one near you!
Clore Leadership Programme Short Courses
I had a great week in the wonderful Rutland countryside at the beginning of October, as a faciliator on the Clore Leadership programme's short course programme. It was my sixth time working on one of the short courses and it was really inspiring to meet such a great bunch of people from all across the arts world. All the participants worked really hard and showed a lot of courage in really challenging themselves to step out of their 'comfort zones'. They were also great fun, highly motivated and accomplished networkers - and having already arranged their first get together, 'Clore 16' are definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with!
Skills Update!
I'm a firm believer in keeping skills updated and learning from others, so a big thank you to Paul Jackson and everyone else involved for a great storytelling course at Assington Mill in June. My storytelling is now new and improved!
Storyplaytime sessions
My weekly interactive theatre activity sessions for babies and toddlers are going strong in Woodbridge in Suffolk on Monday afternoons. For more information, check out the Storyplaytime website www.storyplaytime.co.uk
Stories for parties
My Storytelling for Parties leaflet is now available. There's a menu to pick from including traditional and personalised stories as well as acitivity packs to go along with them and storyplaytime sessions. E-mail justine@sowhatsthestory.co.uk for your copy
Emma's Journey
Back in May, I did storytelling for Emma's Journey Family Fun Day at Stanford in the Vale, Oxfordshire. The event was in aid of Cardiac Critical Care - Great Ormond Street Hospital - a very worthy cause, so if you want to know more or make a donation, please visit www.emmasjourney.braddy.net
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