Newcastle Church High School

We met the lovely Kirstie and Kristine from Waterstone's in Newcastle in the morning at what has to be one of the most gorgeous book stores I've seen.  The building is stunning and the shop is beautifully arranged over many floors.  We received a very warm welcome on what proved an epecially cold day.  It started snowing early on and didn't stop - much to our great delight and I'm sure everyone else's annoyance.  We headed off to meet the girls of Newcastle Church High School in a beautiful part of the town.  The girls and staff were delighful and we had a wonderful time meeting everyone.  It was lovely watching the snow flakes fall and settle on the tennis court outside as I talked to the children.

Before I started the talk, the school had organised to take some photographs for their publications so I had a great time working out how we would set up some shots with four of the girls.  I will upload the photograph once I find it again!

I wished I could have stayed longer!

A Big Day In Newcastle on Tyne

We travelled on the train from Glasgow to Newcastle through stunning countryside, ranging from snow covered mountains to windswept beaches.  Newcastle is much prettier than I had imagined with the Tyne River flowing through the centre and a fabulous redeveopment on the riverfront including restaurants, hotels and museums.  We stayed at the Malmaisson Hotel with a view straight out onto the very cool Millennium Bridge which changes colour in the evenings.  I had a little pang of Sydney homesickness when we first glimpsed the Tyne Bridge which is a miniature version of our very own Harbour Bridge.

An absolute highlight of our visit to Newcastle was meeting the Sayer family; Christine and John and their gorgeous girls Emma and Lily. The girls have been enjoying the Alice-Miranda books with their mum and Christine began following me on Facebook and Twitter.  We had chatted several times and when I said we were coming to Newcastle I realised that they didn't live too far away in Sunderland.  So I asked her if they'd like to come up to Newcastle and meet us.  It was wonderful.  The girls were beautiful - so gorgeous and sweet.  I loved meeting them and Christine and John.  We were only sad that our visit to Newcastle was so short.  We visited two schools the following day which I will write separate blog posts about.

I can't wait to go back to Newcastle when we're in the UK again in November and I hope that I'll be able to visit Emma and Lily's school.

St Bernadette's Primary School Stenhousemuir near Glasgow

Tuesday saw us visiting the same area as Monday but on the other side of the main road.  The journey there was not nearly as much fun, with an accident on the motorway causing traffic chaos but fortunately we arrived in plenty of time.  The first rule of being a publicist is to leave enough time to ge to your event!  Charlotte was highly organised - as was Stephie and Lisa the week before.

St Bernadette's is a brand new school, opened abut 6 months ago.  Architecturally it's a stand out with fabulous design inside and out.  With the whole school under one roof it's definitely built for the cold weather.  The children and teachers were lovely - highly enthusiastic and great fun.  I talked to a smaller group of students in the spare classroom which is currently a music room - but for how much longer is anyone's guess as the school is growing at a rapid rate.

We worked with the fabulous Linzi from Scotia Books, who was a star bookseller and also treated us to a delicious lunch at the shop.  Pies, gravy and chips - perfect in the chilly Scottish weather.  Linzi had us all laughing - she's such a great girl.  Can't wait to work with them again when we come back for the Clementine Rose tour in November.

New posts soon - apologies, I've been a little sick

I had hoped to have my tour blog well up to date by now but was layed low with a nasty stomach bug while we were in Edinburgh - so I'm catching up on writing and blogging now that we've arrived in Singapore.  Stay tuned - lots of news about the UK tour and Singapore tour soon to come.

Kinnaird Primary School, Kinnaird near Glasgow

My first visit to a school in Glasgow also happened to be the first time an author has visited the very new and beautiful Kinnaird Primary School.  I have been fascinated to see inside Scottish primary schools as they enjoy an excellent reputation with the Australian education community and I was certainly impressed.  The teachers were so welcoming and the children were great fun to work with - although I did have to apologise a couple of times for my hearing - which obviously wasn't completely in tune with their sometimes broad Scottish accents.  Hearing the children pronounce the full name of Alice-Miranda's best friend, Millicent Jane McLaughlin-McTavish-McNoughton-McGill was like music.

I talked to Year 4-7 in their gymnasium which doubles as a hall and had a great time intoducing Alice-Miranda.  The little girl who acted out the role of the school's second best tantrum thrower was hilarious and had the poor little boy who was trying to befriend her, running for cover.

It was lovely to sign the books for the children at the end and we even had the local newspaper journalist come and take photos for a story.  One little girl looked particularly like Alice-Miranda and posed beautifully - I hope to find the picture in the newspaper soon and will add a link to the blog. 

Silverdell Bookshop events, Lancashire

Today we met the lovely Elaine from Silverdell Books at Kirkham.  She drove us to the first event at Broughton Business and Enterprise College, where Jo Harwood, librarian extraordinaire had coordinated a group of primary schools to come along and hear about Alice-Miranda and her adventures. As the girls walked into the library, I noticed one student talking very animatedly about Alice-Miranda.  Her name was Zara and she was already a big Alice-Miranda fan (which was heartwarming to say the least).  The girls were very attentive and enthusiastic and I had a great time talking to them, answering their questions and meeting them afterwards to sign books and postcards.

Elaine then drove us through some very pretty villages to her shop in Kirkham, which is bookshop, ice cream parlour and coffee shop all in one.  We were treated to lunch and then of course there was ice cream - home made.  Ian had the Kirkham Crunch and I had a little taste - it is delicious.  Eaine is also a local councillor, so has a huge amount on her plate running a small business and working for the community - which I'm sure can be a thankless task at times. 

We then drove through more rolling countryside and quaint villages to Baines High School, where the lovely librarian, Anne Woodworth had coordinated another group of local primary schools to visit.  The library was very modern and beautifully presented and the girls were as terrific as the morning students.  I've been blown away by the enthusiasm, good manners and delight that the children I've met seem to get from stories and books.  Who said that reading was dead!

It was lovely to talk to the children afterwards as I signed their books - although it was a little bit rushed as they had to be back at school for the end of the day.  Elaine then drove Stephie to the station where we said farewell until the end of next week.  Charlotte is taking over the reins in Glasgow at the beginning of next week.  It was sad to see Stephie go - we have had such a great time.  Elaine then drove us back to the hotel where we said our goodbyes and vowed to be back again at the end of October.  I can't wait to work with her again.

After such an exciting week, Ian and I thought we'd have an early night.  But 8pm?  We're really getting old!  We must have needed the sleep.

Rufford Primary School Rufford, Lancashire

This morning we met publicist extraordinaire Stephie at our hotel and drove across to Euston Station (which is rather nice - and much warmer than Waterloo) where we caught a high speed Virgin train to Preston in Lancashire.  I wish we had the same sort of high speed rail network at home - fast, friendly and efficient - it's fantastic.  We arrived at the station and were greeted by Mike, the Random House rep for the area.  I don't quite know how to explain Mike, except to say that he looks like Elvis (only better looking) and he made me laugh from the minute we met.  He is completely adorable, generous and extremely witty and I can't wait to do more events in his area next time we're in England.

Mike drove us to Rufford Primary school, about 20 minutes out of town where once again we were greeted so warmly.  Miss Farrington, the Head teacher and Mrs Highton (I have never met anyone called Highton before and thought it was fitting, given I was talking about Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones) had arranged everything including a delicious lunch with home made sausage rolls that Mike and Ian were definitely going to fight over.  There were cupcakes too.

I spoke to the Rufford KS1 students (which is the equivalent to the Infants K-2 in an Australian school), introducing them to Clementine Rose.  It was great fun talking to them about Clemmie and her upcoming adventures and we had a couple of stars partcipating in the drama activity.

Afterwards we headed to the hall where I spoke to the 3-6 students from Rufford and several groups of students from neighbouring schools too.  It was great fun meeting them all.  This time we acted out the scene where Alice-Miranda meets Jacinta Headlington-Bear, the school's second best tantrum thrower.  I hadn't expected such a terrifying tantrum thrower - great actor!  The little girl who acted the Alice-Miranda part was brilliant too.

At the end of the talk I signed lots of books (which had been supplied by 'super Tony' from Formby Books - who was two staff down and trying to move into a new shop and still managed to get to my event!) and then made sure we had plenty of photos with the staff.  Miss Farrington took me for a tour of the school, which is small and perfectly formed.  Great classrooms and such a warm and caring staff.  Every school I have visited has made me proud to be an educator.  There are so many good things happening in schools here in the UK.  To see happy children who love learning and dedicated teachers who take pride in their profession is seriously uplifting.

Mike then kindly drove us through what seemed to be pretty busy peak hour traffic to our hotel in Preston.  As we passed the courthouse we were surprised to see lots of heavily armed police, police cars everywhere and some serious police vans.  Later, on the news we learned that a fellow who murdered two policewomen is on trial in Preston, hence the heavy police presence.

We bade farewell to Mike who had quite a drive back to Shropshire and settled in for an early night (and maybe a little bit of champagne to celebrate a great week).