Ta-ra 2017

I have followed the advice from a very wise woman with silver hair and twinkly eyes, and written down what I did this year so that I can better decide what I’d like to do with the next one.

Sincere and hearty thanks to everyone who helped me and supported me through this exhausting but very satisfying year. See you the other side

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF 2017

It’s been a very hectic year filled with smaller projects, working with old friends and making some new ones, plus the beginnings of new ideas sprouting.

U.S

I was lucky enough to tour schools and community centres in Montana and Ohio with my children’s storytelling and books “Be The Change, Make It Happen” and “Do Nice, Be Kind, Spread Happy” and squeeze in a trip to Yellowstone National Park where I saw a bear.

London

Back at home in London I was very proud to have worked with Meet Me At The Albany once again, storytelling in sheltered housing across Lewisham, plus more storytelling with seniors later on in the year with Duckie and The Posh Club. I were part of Two Degrees at Arts Admin with Sign of the Times, where we presented two storytelling fundraisers: one for Refugee Week and one for local Deptford charity for homeless people the 999 Club. Also at home I were proud to collaborate with Teatro Vivo on their version of Midsummers Night Dream “The Faery Den” in local parks, telling stories about magical animals and faery gold. The autumn brought new collaborations with London Month of the Dead and our friends London Dreamtime with storytelling in Brompton Cemetery; and with BFI as part of their Thriller season, where Gareth and I wrote and performed stories in response to Silence of the Lambs. Lastly is the on going project with the Royal Albert Hall, creating a new piece of theatre with a local intergenerational group about the history of the Royal Albert Hall.

St Leonard’s Festival

In St Leonards me and Jules Craig revived The Aunties for the festival / 111Collectif and had a lot of fun.

Troublemakers Festival Swansea

At Volcano Theatre’s headquarters in Swansea Rob Kennedy and I revived Sign of the Times for the Troublemakers Festival where we were proud to work with Dan Thompson, Sarah Corbett (Craftivist Collective), Stella Duffy, Mark Thomas and Charles Tolfree amongst others.

SICK! Festival Manchester

In Manchester I wAs part of the SICK! Festival with a kids activism workshop and discussion alongside Simon Semple on the subject of happiness.

Writing

Throughout the year I continued to write my Kindness column for Balance magazine, be part of new web series British Rationals and write and launch my new book “The Little Book of Kindness”. I also co-presented a “good news” section on Thursday mornings for Wandsworth Radio alongside Carpet Martin. I was very proud to have worked with Wet Picnic at the Natural History Museum on Crime Scene Live as a writer/performer.

Also we were given this sign by People United. It is beautiful and treasured. I have written about it’s influence on a blog for them which I will post here soon

That’s all folks. I’d recommend this as a way of celebrsting what you’ve done and helping to reflect on what might be next. It’s given me some ideas.....