Category: song

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Books children Creativity Education Primary song Story Telling Workshops Writing

Old Billy, A Warrington Tail

Written by Flick Goodman, Illustrated by Stef Woof and Published by Culture Warrington

Old Billy is one of the great figures of Warrington history. Billy was born at Wilgreave Farm in Woolston in 1760 and died at Old Warps in Latchford in 1822. Old Billy is claimed by many people to have been the World’s oldest ever horse.

Working with the archives team at Culture Warrington, I wrote a ballad style poem inspired by the way that communities told stories during the Industrial Revolution. The words were then handed to Stef Woof, who beautifully illustrated the story.

Copies of the book can be purchased from Warrington Museum or borrowed from one of Warrington’s libraries. You can learn more about the life of Old Billy on the museum’s website

Old Billy Workshop

Inspired by Culture Warrington’s Old Billy, A Warrington Tail (Written by Flick Goodman and Illustrated by Stef Woof), this workshop will have children creating their own ballad inspired by the characters found in the pages of picture book. We’ll share facts from the Industrial Revolution along the River Mersey and find out why ballads were so important. Please get in touch, if you would like to find out more about this workshop.

Turning All Day by Flick Goodman and Year 2 Bewsey Lodge Primary School

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Change children Creativity Discussions Family Listening Opinion SEND song stories Story Telling

Meteorite

Sometimes when you are looking for a story, you can’t find it and yet you can see the need for one everywhere you look.

I have a autistic daughter. The journey to understanding and supporting her has been relentless and remains ongoing. We are lucky she attends a brilliant school with an extremely humble, caring and conscientious SENDCo. Like many families with a SEND child, it has been hard and we have experienced the underfunding that everyone is talking about through a lack of provision of health services and the arms length distance we are held at when it comes to getting practical support and advice.

If you have slipped on the stairs, whilst holding your baby, you body reflexes take over. You pull the baby in close shielding them from the fall with your body as you back takes the bumps, the scratches, the carpet burn and the awful twists. That’s what this feels like. but where the fall is over in seconds, this goes on for years.

I have written this story to share a tiny window into our world. It’s always hard to share personal information about yourself, especially when it comes to your children. 

I hope that it builds better empathy to those who created the complex systems that we have to navigate for our children to have experiences in life that are meaningful and bring joy. 

I hope that it brings comfort and recognition to parents going through similar experiences and I hope that you know, that no matter how lonely or futile things can seem, you and your children matter. I’m going to keep telling myself that anyway.

Help us create an education system that works for everyone:
https://www.change.org/p/reform-the-send-education-in-the-uk

Categories
Change Creativity Education Family Primary Secondary song stories Story Telling Writing Young People

Belong- The Song of the Selkie’s Child

The Selkie’s Child can see that her mother is fading. She knows that she must free her.

What the hardest choice you have had to make?

When you father steals your mother’s seal skin, and you know the right thing is to let her go. The Selkie’s child comes to her mother and pledges to help her find her seal skin, even if it means losing her mother to the sea.

You can read my version of the Selkie story here.

A poetry workshop is available to book exploring identity, perception and conflict through folklore. You can read more about workshops here.