In our month-long Climate Change storymaking project at Parrett & Axe Primary school, we worked with KS1 pupils and talked about alternative sources of protein. A timely conversation, given the recent news that some primary schools in Wales are trialing the use of insect protein in their school dinners.

We spent a fantastic few weeks working with Parrett & Axe Primary to build a collection of stories around their whole-school topic of Climate Change. In KS2 classes we talked about electricity, how we use it, and how we might find alternative sources in the future.

TBODAN has embarked on a super exciting project with Bridport-based theatre company Stuff and Nonsense. We’ve joined forces with creative drama dynamos Niki McCretton and Jenny Harrold, to enlist the help of Year 4 children to build a brand new theatre production of the Three Little Pigs, which will premier at Poole’s Lighthouse Theatre late in 2023.

The Platinum Jubilee was a one-in-a-lifetime moment, and we had a wonderful time celebrating 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s rein with two royal-themed storymaking workshops at Burton Bradstock.

Our final meteorology poetry morning at Salway Ash Primary School saw Years 5 & 6 tackle two forms. We started with Odes, and Keats’ famous Ode to Autumn was the perfect example to explain this form of poetry in praise of something.

We will be running our podcasting sessions during the event in the shed behind the skate park. It is an opportunity for young people in Bridport to have their voices heard and tell us what they want us to hear.

Creative Solutions, supplier of banner stands and printed banners, supplied us with a Banner!

Our pool of fabulous volunteers continues to grow, providing invaluable small-group mentoring for young writers both in and out of schools. We offer a relaxed and informative induction session to all new volunteers, to introduce The Bank of Dreams & Nightmares and go through a few elements of our workshops; these take place in the lovely vaulted indoor courtyard at the Bridport LSi. Tea, coffee, and cake are a given of course.

Our series of meteorology-themed poetry workshops continued at Salway Ash Primary, with Year 3/4. The session coincided with Crazy Clothing Day in school, so it was a mad dash for us to gather some suitable attire to join in the fun - class teacher Miss Cole stayed in her dressing gown for the day and pyjamas was definitely a popular choice all round.

Our first storymaking workshop at Sticklands CE Primary School was a great success. Raven Class created a a multi-layered tale of a character called Charlie, who was reluctant to speak in school. Charlie encountered a mouse and a pig en route to discovering their destiny, all under the nose of the strict headteacher.

We had an awesome time at Bridport Youth Centre on Friday creating mini Zines with the incredible Lizzie Heath. Lizzie is an illustrator, manga artist, self publisher and dedicated skateboarder and it was great to have her visit from London and run this brilliant workshop.

Another fantastic morning at The Woodroffe School, where we had our penultimate Podcasting session for this academic year. Year 7 students participated with terrific focus and creativity as we explored Identity and the many things that can include, and carried out short tasks to write their own personal essays. We then recorded these for a Podcast.

In the second in our series of Meteorology-themed poetry workshops, we spent the morning with Years 1 and 2 at Salway Ash CE Primary School and introduced them to the ancient Japanese poetry form of Haiku. The Western interpretation of the form is a three-line poem with a syllable count of 5-7-5.

Budmouth Academy asked us to put together a session for Year 11 students who are heading into their GCSEs this term. One of their English Language exams asks for a piece of creative writing, so we used picture inspiration to write flash fiction and talked about what they thought made a good piece of creative writing.

We were approached by Salway Ash CE Primary School for a special poetry project this summer term, focusing around their whole-school topic of Meteorology. We started things off with Robins Class, in which pupils did a fantastic session of collaborative List poetry, and individual ‘If I were...’ poems.

We spent a deliciously fictionally berry-filled morning with Year 3 at Salway Ash Primary School. Their story took surprising twists and turns with a sushi-loving peacock, a peanut, and a Queen. It ended with nothing short of a blueberry FRENZY.

The Beaminster Museum reopened for the 2022 season with an exhibition of Haiku by young writers from the Prout Bridge Project. The Haiku were written during a workshop with The Bank of Dreams & Nightmares late last year, with this launch event always in mind.

Year 4 class at Salway Ash came up with an ingenious tale of a bar of chocolate named Henry. Henry came up against Fishsticks the microwave, who definitely wanted to rule the (micro) waves with his menacing stance.

Our Symondsbury Storymaking workshops were alive with artistic creativity; the two artists for our Year 5/6 and Y3/4 sessions provided the most fantastic experience for the young writers.

Last chance this week to sign up for our special one off FREE Slam poetry event with guest poet Anthony Anaxagorou. Sign up here

Bertie the Butternut Squash was the main character in Willow class’ charming story about a vegetable who wished for arms and legs. Bertie was chosen from an array of fruit, vegetable, and furry characters in this special storymaking workshop.