It has been a fantastic World Book week!
On Tuesday March 1st, I was invited to do a workshop for Queen Eleanor’s School in Guildford which was thoroughly entertaining for all of us! I was escorted around the school by the lovely Annabel who was a great help and gave me lots of encouragement.
Talking to 90 children isn’t that easy, as there is generally a lapse in concentration levels, but I have to say that all the students gave their full attention for the time that I was there, and we did have some fun along the way.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teachers and staff for the welcome they extended to me and I sincerely hope that all the students enjoyed the stories and the fun we had.
Thursday 3rd March I was invited to do another workshop at Gothic Mede Academy in Arlesey, Bedfordshire by Lisa Oestricher!
It was by quite an amazing coincidence that our final winner of the ‘Charlie Ant Competition’ also attended Gothic Mede Academy and was a student in Year 4 called Amber Walker.
I personally couldn’t wait to present Amber with her prize of two signed books plus a £100 voucher for Amazon. I was fortunate enough to also have the time to write Amber a manuscript based on the character she created, so this was presented to her at the same time!
To say she was ‘thrilled to bits’ would be an understatement!
Amber was sitting at the back of the assembly hall, which was full of children, completely unaware that she was the winner!
I held up the cover to the manuscript, which included a picture of the Praying Mantis she had created, and asked the whole school assembly if anyone recognised the picture? Two of the children thought that it was their creation and raised their hands but quickly realised that they had made a mistake!
At the back of the hall I watched as Amber slowly raised her hand in complete disbelief and then ‘slowly and tearfully’ made her way to the front of the hall towards where her headmaster and I were standing!
The whole of the school assembly applauded her loudly as she very nervously accepted her prize and then she whispered to me.....’I’m sorry but my legs are so shaky and these are tears of happiness’........
I do not think that there could have been any nicer person that deserved to win that prize, Amber was absolutely adorable and it certainly was a very heart warming moment for me :)
I am now awaiting her comments on what can only be described as ‘Amber’s Book’ and I’d like to take this opportunity to say WELL DONE to Amber Walker and Gothic Mede Academy!
I’d also like to say a big thank you to Lisa Glindon who took the time to get me to the right classes at the right time, and I do apologise for all the extra noise that the children made on the day!!!
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Gothic Mede Academy and thought that all the children were fantastic, which made my job very easy!
Thank you so much to all the teachers who kept the children in a reasonable state of control and allowed us all to have so much fun!