• I had a great day on Thursday at Copthorne Preparatory School, mostly with the pre-prep department.

    We had a load of fun with stories and drawing and I tried the dry-wipe boards for drawing running cats again. It was quite a cold day and some of the boards were really cold and had condensation on them, which made them quite hard to draw on! We had Reception and Nursery together for that session, so some of the children were only four, but they did wonderful drawings all the same. In all the excitement, I forgot to take any pictures!

    I spoke to years 3 and 4 in what must be one of the cutest theatres ever. The raked seating at the back has ancient cast iron seats. The backs fold over to create desks – how brilliant is that? Shame the paint wasn’t completely dry!

    I have to say that so far, in my vast experience of these things, the school dinner I was had there was the best I’ve ever had – chicken and mushroom pie, with green beans followed by Rice pudding (I didn’t have the optional chocolate drops!) My compliments to the chef.

    Thanks for a great day everyone. I got home quite late and very tired. I have no idea where Friday went – it must have occurred! Anyway, It’s Saturday now and I’m off to the Aye Write! Festival in Glasgow tomorrow. This is going to be one busy month!

  • While I’m reminiscing about Bedford, I went past Bedford Library on Tuesday and many memories came flooding back.

    Bedford Library is where my education really began. I never quite got the hang of school, but I spent a lot of time in the Library. I would often end my Saturday afternoons with a cup of coffee in the Library (How advanced was that for the mid 1970s?) reading the latest edition of Scientific American.

    Almost the day I left school, I discovered the adult fiction department and chose a book by Colin Wilson. He was the perfect writer for an impressionable teenager to discover by chance. As I read all the books of his they had, I acquired a list of other authors and themes to follow up. Those books led me to borrow and discover Bruckner, Wagner and Beethoven from the music library. I got stuck in the Ws for a bit, as Wodehouse was quite close by as well as a crime procedural series by another W author. I’d never know all those books were there before. Perhaps I’d thought you had to be over eighteen to look on the adult shelves!

    I was eighteen when I discovered that I wanted to do art, and it was the Library that provided me with my art education. I borrowed technical books and art history books, trying out techniques and learning what it is to be an artist. I started work in Bedford, designing letterheads and things for and instant print outfit, called JayCopy, in St Peters. None of us really knew anything about design, so how did I get to learn? The Library, of course!

    I suppose I could learn it all again on the internet, but I’d not have had the quiet camaraderie of others in search of knowledge and entertainment. I’d not have had the help of Librarians to show me how to find stuff out, to suggest different routes to the knowledge I required. I’d not have had the warm place to go to to learn – my flat was freezing and I couldn’t afford the electricity bills. I’d not have got the basic human interchange that leads to new areas of knowledge and learning in ways that the internet cannot ever offer on its own. I wouldn’t have been able to afford a computer anyway – so I’d have had to rely on the Library to provide that too.

    Libraries are precious places. Thank you Bedford Library for keeping me on the straight and narrow and going pretty much in the right direction during what were difficult times in my life.

  • I’ve had a very busy week! On Tuesday I drove to Bedford, where I lived as a teenager. It was very strange, driving and walking around revisiting haunts and memories!

    When I lived there it had the reputation of having the most number of native languages spoken in one town than any other in the country. It had large Irish, Italian, Bengali Polish and West Indian populations living alongside a very old-fashioned community of those who had retired and returned from running the Empire. I realised that I was quite an adventurous teenager. I walked and cycled almost the whole of the town and went to parts that my contemporaries probably still don’t know exist! Delivering the Christmas Post took me to one or two scary places, but it probably made me brave enough to explore further. I had friends who lived, literally, on the other side of the railway tracks. My school friends would never think to go there, but that was where I first heard real reggae being played. I even tried to play with a reggae band, (before The Police ever thought of it). A bit too ahead of my times!

    Anyway, I spent Wednesday with Livingstone Lower School, right in the middle of Bedford. I don’t suppose you could get a school that represents the Bedford Community if you tried. I had a lovely time telling stories and showing the children how to draw my characters.

    We had an inspirational moment with Reception. Time was running out and it would have taken too long to sort out paper and pencil for each child, but they had laminate boards and dry wipe pens at hand. I showed them how to draw a running cat. This involves a lot of construction which I normally do pressing lightly. But with dry wipe, we could do the construction shapes and then easily wipe out the bits we didn’t want. Terrific! Shame they couldn’t keep the drawings and take them home, but I quickly took some pics below, some of which are a bit blurry.

    Great drawings Reception and a great day all together. Thanks everyone.