• I went on a lovely, sunny walk in the Forest with my daughter, this afternoon. We went off the beaten track, trying to find the other side of the lake, where my daughter imagines something special hides – we didn’t find it this time.

    However we did find a burst balloon hanging from a tree. It’s a message from Katy to Jess who was a good friend who always made her laugh and cry. Unfortunately, I can’t make out any more as the message was written on a self-adhesive label that was wrapped around the string. The message was destroyed as I tried to open it up. I’ve tried photographing it from behind and blending two side of the message together on photoshop, but there is not enough to work on.

    Probably a good thing too. It feels like a heartfelt message of loss.

    Maybe such messages should be consumed by fire, which will take the meaning up into the heavens with it. Trusting it to a balloon is not safe. Anyone could find it and distort the meaning and sentiment of the message so that if it ever gets to where it was heading, the wrong impression will be given to whoever the message was meant for. Hmm! It there an idea for a story here?

  • I was asked to draw a Spitfire off the top of my head by one of the Upper classes at Watermore Primary School last week. I didn’t do too badly, considering, but I promised I would do some research, practice and post a how to video, so here it is. Hope you like it.

  • I’ve had a lovely morning today, helping Catherine Escott-Allen give prizes to the children of Forest View Primary School, which I visited on Monday. Catherine had worked with the children and gave them themes to write about. The best entries won their prizes today and I was particularly thrilled that every child and their family managed to make it to the celebration – I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere that has had a 100% support before.

    Maybe this is because Cinderford Library is in line for closure and those who came this morning have realised what they are possibly going to lose. The County Council’s own statistics show that Cinderford, which is an old mining town, is an area of multiple deprivation, also the Council has pledged to support vulnerable people. So, to show their support, they want to close the Library and the Mobile Libraries. I just can’t understand it. If ever there was a town that needs it’s Library, Cinderford is that town.

    So, how great to see Mr Lyons, the Head of Forest View and Gemma White, the Literacy Co-ordinator working so closely with their local library. The school is working hard to push the love of reading for pleasure and Mr Lyons says it is paying off already. He can see a change in the children already, “a Buzz in the air!”

    I think we take reading for granted these days. As adults that can read, we forget how hard it was to learn what is a truly astonishing skill. We think of it as a basic skill, but without the ability to read we would be lost in the modern world.

    School can only go so far. It requires more than daily attendance at school to acquire the amazing skill that reading is. It needs parent’s and family to keep up the reading at home – to enjoy reading, and that means trips to the Library, where knowledgeable staff are on hand to help choose new books. No family can afford all the books it needs to create confident, capable readers.

    And remember, when we are old and grey, we will be relying on today’s children to keep us. Do we want them to be clever and able to run the world for us in a way we would approve? Or do we want them slumped in front of video games, as the country and our culture slips slowly into the mire?

    We expect far too much of schools these days. A teacher, with 30 children, can only build the scaffolding of their education. In the end, it is the children themselves, with their ability to read, and the skills of research and finding out that come with reading, that build upon that scaffolding. Without those skills, and without the library as their out-of-school resource, they are doomed.

    Thank you Catherine and and Librarians and Teachers everywhere for what you do to promote reading for pleasure. It’s how children learn for themselves, to see above the horizon and view possible new futures they could never have known were available to them before.