This month’s featured volunteer is mediator, writer and Vault stalwart, Annie Franklin.

So how did you come to be a volunteer at The Bank?

I moved to Eype from Gloucestershire in the summer of 2023, attracted by Bridport’s creative and literary vibe. There was a poster in the Tourist Information Centre that caught my eye; I was intrigued by the name “The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares” and pulled up the website.

Friday saw the culmination of our Science Fictions project, as a group of students from Wadham school presented their science demos to Year 6 pupils from Hazelbury Plucknett School. The presentations included a reading of their story, a demo of their principal and a Q&A session, which the audience really engaged with. The students have all worked so hard on their stories and their demonstrations, that it was brilliant to see their efforts paying off in such a successful session.

We were delighted to be back in Mountjoy School again last week! The amazing writers from Ash Class were busy writing their own personal statements as they prepare to move on to schools, colleges and even work placements.

Last Friday saw us heading back to Salway Ash to work with their Year 3 class on a story making project that nobody saw coming! The imaginations of these young authors were really working overtime, and the group came together to craft a beautiful story about a young cat cow named Derek who follows in the footsteps of its parents in an attempt to find a friend. Along the way he encounters dragons, dank caves, shiny mansions and even giant, monster spiders!

We are very excited to announce the launch of our latest story anthology. Written entirely by the talented Year 6 pupils from Salway Ash, Superior Gods is a collection of short stories investigating the world of escape. Each of these perfectly crafted nuggets of speculative fiction has, at its heart, the idea of an ‘escape’. Whether this is a character battling to return home, a literal freeing from slavery, or a psychological breaking free from the norm, each of these tales is bound up with the idea of freedom.

We had a brilliant morning working with a multi-talented, mixed age-group class from Musbury Primary School in Devon. The tale of Alan the Alien and his attempt to save his best friend, Gary, from the evil machinations of Dave the Tadpole, is an absolute classic!

What makes home, Home? What’s the very best thing about where you live? Is it a destination, a comfy familiarity, or is it the vibe, the community, the people? We have been asking the amazing pupils from Radipole Primary School to consider and respond to this question through poetry, as part of their school focus: “Love Where You Live”.

Wolves circling, trapped inside a damp cave, a haunted house on the horizon, and with only a cute little chick to protect him. It wasn’t looking good for Bear Man when the Year 3s and 4s at Portesham started their story. Turns out, Little Timmy is made of sterner stuff than you might think!

We were back at The Prince of Wales School this week where we got to work with a fantastic group of Year 3s. Having last worked with them on creating characters, this time we launched straight into writing a full blown story. The group did not disappoint!

‘The Writers’ Account’ is a group of young writers which meets every Wednesday after school to experiment with words.   Every few weeks however, there is a masterclass with a professional writer and these fantastic sessions mean that the members of the group can learn more about what a writer’s life is like and how to develop a career, as well as receive individual encouragement for their own work. 

We had an absolute blast working with Hazel Class from St Catherine’s RC Primary School in Bridport. ‘The Sushi Snatch’, tells the bizarre and heartbreaking tale of a monster with a crippling phobia of ‘people-who-have-names’. Facing an impossible choice between saving his friend from a bully and keeping that friendship alive, our hero is forced to make a sacrifice that will set him and his nemesis on a terrible path. Can their friendship be re-captured? Has he finally defeated his arch-enemy? Or is Octopus Dave’s reign of terror only just beginning?

Working with a group of young journalists at Bridport Primary School, the Bank of Dreams & Nightmares is helping them to start their own School Newspaper. Our latest after school club is helping some enthusiastic writers to choose stories, conduct interviews, and write articles that will celebrate and uncover exciting developments in the school, Bridport and the wider world.

In a nail-biting conclusion to our Political Writing workshops series, The CAiS Party seized power at Axe Valley Academy on Wednesday by the narrowest of margins.

Featured Volunteer: Clive Whaley – a man of many parts.

Clive hails from the Northeast of England, the middle of three children in what he calls a ‘standard working-class family’. His father was a practical man, an apprentice ‘plater’ who worked his way up the business to become Managing Director of Whaley Welding.

We had an absolute blast last week, working with the Year 4 Class at The Prince of Wales School as part of their Inspired to Write day. Our team was involved with Mr Wolf, who had, unfortunately got himself in a spot of bother with the local police. Accused of a crime he might, or might not have committed, Mr Wolf was languishing in a cold cell and facing the prospect of a Christmas behind bars!

With around half of the world (4 billion people across 76 countries) voting in 2024, the amazing students at Axe Valley, have thrown their own hats into the political ring. We worked with a group of politically motivated Year 9s to write a ‘How To…’ guide to starting your own political party, getting elected and staying out of trouble!

A group of amazing pupils from the Prince of Wales School in Dorchester have become published authors after working with us on stories exploring the theme of DESTINY. Over the course of just four sessions, the pupils chose their theme, planned, wrote and edited their stories.

We are delighted to hear that one of our amazing volunteers has spread the word about the Children’s Democratic Republic of Bridport right across the other side of the world!

We worked with a fantastic group of Year 3 writers from the Prince of Wales school on how to go about creating a brand new character and bring it to life. Using a collection of objects dropped by this person as they left The Bank, this group of character detectives were able to identify the individual, tell us what they looked like, reveal their personality and even give us their backstory and family history.

We were back at Thorner’s Primary School last week working with a fantastic group of Year 3 and 4 students on a story inspired by their work on the ancient Egyptians. Taking genuine hieroglyphs from the walls of a pyramid as their initial inspiration, this amazing group of young writers crafted an epic tale of magic, danger and triumph over adversity.