Visiting Schools and Libraries

I'm up early this morning doing a bit of writing before I head off out... Just enough time here to say a quick hello to everyone that's coming along to Workington Library, Carlisle Library, Barrow Island Primary School, Flint Library (Croes Atti School and St Mary's School), Buckley Library (Westwood CP School), Mold Library (Bryn Gwalia), Holywell Library (St Winifred's School) and to everyone at Tonge Moor Junior School... See you all soon.

Book Weeks and James Morrison

Having a mad busy time at the moment visiting schools and libraries all across the country. Yesterday was lots of fun with my Key Stage 2 friends at Eveswell Primary School in Newport, and today I'm back there to see everyone in Key Stage 1... it always a pleasure visiting the school and seeing everyone so here's a BIG HELLO to you all. On Monday I was at Daisy Hill, Bolton with everyone at St James Daisy Hill, and tomorrow I will be at Waterfoot Primary School in Rochdale - I'm looking forward to meeting everyone...

As well as all the book week fun I've been busy writing late into the night, but despite all this we still managed to find time to go and see the excellent James Morrison in concert in Rhyl. Rhyl Pavilion is a small venue so it makes for a really intimate concert.

James Morrison has a great rock n soul voice and it was fantastic to see him perform a mixture of old favourites as well as songs from his brilliant new album. 

Wookey Hole And An Early Start To The Week

Up bright and early today - though not very bright as it feels like the middle of the night... Today I'm off to spend a day with everyone at St Edmund and St John C of E Primary School in Dudley - so here's a BIG HELLO to everyone there.

BIG HELLO's also too Woodlea Junior School, Netherton Infants, Monkwray Junior School and St Chad's Primary School in Lichfield... Phew, it's going to be a busy week. Somehow I have to fit some writing in too as I have a deadline that's creeping closer (a story about a dentist).

Last week was half term and, as well as writing, we had a couple of days away form home - starting with a drive down along the border of Wales and England, then finally crossing over to England on the Severn Bridge.

From there we headed down to Weston-Super-Mare - a popular seaside holiday resort with a long pier and lovely beaches. I couldn't help being intrigued by the ruins of the old Birnbeck Pier.

Deserted and in ruins it reminded me of a Scooby Doo set but the Pier was a hugely popular attraction for visitors. Steam ships would land at the jetty on the right and hundreds of visitors would spend their day having fun before finally going back home in the evening.

The main reason for going away was so we could visit the spectacular Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole. Walking through the Gorge we spotted Mountain Goats clambering around and Ravens gliding over the cliffs.

We ventured down into the Wookey Hole caves - heard the legend of the Wookey Witch and tried our best not to bump our heads on the roof of some of the lower rocks. "Ouch!"

The caves were interesting to see but I kept feeling myself drawn to the passage where Cheddar Cheese was slowly maturing "Yum!"

Time for school...

New Books

I hope you're enjoying the half term holidays... I've had a busy time since Christmas and things are just going to get busier so I thought I' d take this chance to write a little bit in my diary.

My two latest little books were published by the wonderful people at Franklin Watts a couple of days ago. Meerkat's Marathon and Hippo's High Dive. Both of the books form part of a little six book series themed around animals in the Olympic Games - two books are written by me and the other four have been written by other authors... There are only around 200 words in each of the books so they are quite short but the illustrations are great and I think they are a lot of fun.

Meerkat's Marathon has been illustrated by a brilliant new illustrator called Steve Brown. This was only Steve's second book but I think you will agree he's made a brilliant job of it. I'm delighted that Steve is illustrating another one of my stories at the moment (more about that later)... I think he's going to be a really big name in the children's book world in the future so it's great to have the chance to work with him. You can find out more about Steve by visiting his website HERE.

You can find out more about Meerkat's Marathon and Hippo's High Dive by clicking HERE... you can also print off some fun things to do.

I had a great time last week with everyone at Hadnall Primary School near Shrewsbury - followed by a long drive down to Edgware where I spent a day at The Orion Primary School for part of their wonderful Word Up Festival. I hope everyone enjoyed the day as much as I did...

After leaving The Orion Primary School I had a short drive (though it took ages) down to Wimbledon ready to visit the Ursuline Preparatory School for Girls.

It was fantastic meeting everyone and coming up with story ideas... lots of great questions and I even got to see a fox snoozing in the sun. You can see him at the top of the page...

A Busy New Year

The weeks since Christmas seem to have whizzed by and it's hard to believe February is already here. In the last few weeks I've been busy working on a story about an Awful Astronaut, visiting schools, catching up with all my letters and paperwork, and lots more.

Vicky and I haven't had much time to go anywhere or do anything, but we did manage a little drive around parts of Wales that we hadn't been to before - ending up at Lake Vyrnwy. Some photographs we took are scattered around in this diary entry.  

A couple of weeks ago I had a great time working with the wonderful Year four writers at Kensington Primary School in Merseyside - it's a pleasure visiting the school and I can't wait to see everyone again in the future. I also fun day with everyone at St Chad's Primary School, Crackley Bank. 

Last week I visited Bowlee Park Primary School in Bolton, Black Lane Primary School in Wrexham, Byron Primary School in Bradford and Westbury School in Nottingham - a really good few days sharing stories and talking about writing.

This week I will be visiting Woodbank Primary School in Bury, Hadnall Primary School in Shrewsbury, Orion Primary School in Edgware and Ursuline Prep School in Wimbledon... I really looking forward to meeting everyone... See you all soon. 

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve and Vicky and I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas... 2015 has been a busy year with lots going on. All the presents are wrapped and everything is prepared... we're looking forward to having a nice few days over the holidays before a busy 2016.

I've had a great time this year visiting schools and libraries all over the place and I'm really looking forward to visiting more in the New Year. There's going to be lots of travelling involved... but there's also going to be a lot more writing done in 2016.


There's a few little books due to be published in the early part of 2016 and I will tell you more about those in January. Have a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year...

Keep on coming to visit my diary as I will be posting a lot more in the New Year.... news of what I'm doing and what I'm working on. 

I've even got a story to be getting on with over Christmas... It's like having homework!!!

Better go now before Santa arrives... 

Have a great time everyone... 

Love Damian and Vicky

xx

P.S. hope you like the pictures of our Christmas Tree

A week in Switzerland

Yesterday I had lots of fun meeting and working with everyone at Ysgol Llanddulas and hopefully I will be seeing everyone again rally soon. There were some great story ideas and lots of great questions... It only took me half an hour to drive to school as it is only about 34 miles from where we live but not all schools I visit are as close to home.
Last week I was more than 650 miles from home visiting schools in Switzerland. It took me a lot longer to get there...

I was up early on Monday morning putting my bags into the car and then driving down the motorway to Manchester airport so I could catch the morning flight to Geneva. It was a wet and windy Manchester morning as I boarded the Easy Jet flight.


Once in the air, the plane soared above the clouds and into bright sunshine at a height of over 37,000 feet. From up there the world looks very different.  

The flight only takes about an hour and a half so there was just time for a cup of coffee and a little read of my book before were we flying over Lake Geneva and touching down in Switzerland where the sun was shining brightly and it was very warm. 

From there I collected my suitcase, made my way down to the railway station and caught a train to Aigle, a small town at the far end of Lake Geneva. The railway line runs along the side of the lake and it seems strange being on a train for so long (an hour and twenty minutes) and still having the lake by the side of you... but then the Lake Geneva is about 45 miles in length. 

I arrived in Aigle sometime after 5pm where I was met by Marco, a mini bus driver from the school that I would be visiting the next day. Marco drove me up into the mountains to the village of Villars-sur-Ollon and dropped me off at the hotel where I would be spending the night. 

You never know what to expect when visiting a hotel, but the Alpe Fleurie Hotel was perfect and my room was excellent - I could happily have stayed there all week. It was comfortable and cozy and I even had a balcony... what more could you want?

The hotel would be a perfect place to stay for a skiing holiday but there was no snow around last week (except on the highest mountains). After unpacking my case I went for a little wander around the town and picked up a pizza for tea... Delicious! 

The next morning I was up early, took this picture of the view from my window and went downstairs for breakfast (fresh, crusty bread, Swiss cheese, salami, ham, coffee and fresh orange Yum!) At eight o'clock I was picked up from the hotel and driven up to La-Garenne International Bilingual School for an early start. 

It was fantastic meeting everyone at school and I was made to feel extremely welcome by all of the children and teachers... The school itself looks very different to schools here in the UK as you can see from this picture of a couple of the school buildings...

The views from the classrooms were beautiful too. It's hard to imagine how anyone gets any work done.

The school day flew by even though its a much longer day than we have here and, after a great time sharing stories and talking about writing, I was soon waiting for a bus to take me back down the mountain to Aigle. I was on the bus by five o'clock and winding my way down the narrow road. Forty-five minutes later I was on the train to Nyon, then an hour or so later was jumping into a taxi for a short ride to my next hotel. It was just after 7 o'clock in the evening when I finally flopped onto my bed - Phew! it had been a long day but lots of fun. 

Another early start on Wednesday with a coffee and a croissant for breakfast before being picked up and taken to see the wonderful infants at College Champittet in Nyon. The school is only open in the morning so I had the afternoon free. 

There wasn't much to see by the hotel I was staying in but one of the teachers kindly drove me up the mountain to look at the amazing view... and it was well worth the trip. This picture was taken from high up on the mountain where you might normally get a good view of Lake Geneva, however, the lake and the surrounding towns and villages were overcast with clouds. After driving up through the clouds though there was a fantastic view. It looked as if a sea of clouds had covered the lake with only the Alps towering above on the other side of the lake. There was even a good view of Mont Blanc covered in snow. 

Up early again on Thursday and another taxi ride into Nyon to meet the head of English from College Champittet, Pully-Lausanne. There, we caught the train to Lausanne and headed down the hill to the College where I spend the day with years 5, 6, and 8. Another fun and busy day. 

After school it was time to head back up the hill... much steeper than it had seemed on the way down as I was dragging my heavy suitcase behind me. I caught a final train back to Geneva airport then a few hours waiting around for my flight home. I arrived home at about 11 in the evening, exhausted after all the travelling but thrilled to have been able to spend the week in Switzerland. 

It was fantastic meeting everyone and all of the the children and teachers were enthusiastic and friendly. I was really made to feel at welcome and was very well looked after. A big thank you to everyone that I met and special thanks to everyone that took such good care of me. I can't wait to come again.

Au revoir for now...