• I had a wonderful day at Headfield Junior School in Dewsbury today. I was asked to come and talk about The Ginger Ninja. It turns out I wrote the Ginger Ninja fifteen or sixteen years ago. I haven’t talked about those books in schools for a long time and they have been out of print for more than five years.

    The Ginger Ninja is unlike everything else that I have written since. It is really quite autobiographical – yes, I was a ginger kitten when I was young. Writing it is was quite an emotional experience, so much so that I think I decided not to write anything quite as deep again.

    I’ve not forgotten it, but I’ve moved on. So It is amazing to find that Ginger is fresh and alive and well in Dewsbury. The children were real fans and wanted to get on and read the rest of the series. The school had been bidding away on ebay to get extra copies! I think I signed one of every edition that has ever been printed. They even had a semi-hardback library edition I’d never seen before.

    The children had been doing cover designs and had been writing Ginger’s diaries, charting the story from Ginger’s daily point of view. They were really fab and really quite moving.

    It’s extraordinary to me to think that Ginger is continuing his life out there, on his own without my help – Thank you Headfield Juniors for taking Ginger and Tiddles to your hearts.

  • Another milestone day for my online Drawing School. I hit 50,000 videos served yesterday, While nowhere near the incredible hits of Mark Crillee, the anime illustrator, I’m thrilled that my videos are still being watched and in ever increasing numbers.

    My own Drawing School site is coming on. When I have all the Youtube videos up on mysite and, hopefully, available to view on whiteboards in school, then I’ll get on a start producing new videos.

    Meanwhile, I’m putting the videos I’ve done up on Teachertube


  • Of course I stopped to get out and take the pictures – I wouldn’t drive and shoot!

    On my way home from Garway School, I popped into the Premier Plant Centre for a sandwich and bought myself a nice new Day Lilly too. The Coffee Shop was laid out in a Greek Taverna style,With the doors open and the sun shining in you could almost believe… almost! For the entrance was guarded by the most extraordinary creature. Apparently he used to be in a display in a castle as a marauding Viking or something. He’s now masquerading as a ship’s cook, I think! Fun anyway.

    I came back Via Symonds Yat, which involves crossing the river Wye at what everyone calls the Bailey Bridge. I’m not sure if it really is a Bailey Bridge. It’s only one lane and often two cars meet in the middle and one has to back up. As I stopped to photograph it, I was aware of a stone with a plaque on it in a filed nearby. I have no idea what it is for, but there are Five trees planted in the enclosure. I feel it maybe a memorial for someone who may have drowned in the river or something like that. It is a popular place for canoeists to start their journeys downstream.