What a fantastic first weekend we've just had at the 2020 Maidenhead's Big Read, as the photos below show!

Visitors to this years event were treated to so many different activities including a word search treasure hunt around town, writing down their best jokes for the joke corner, investigating books in the onsite book swap and taking time out to read with our wonderful volunteers.

In addition we were also treated to a visit by not just Bookstart Bear, but also Highway Rat who joined in our storytelling sessions in Maidenhead Library and around the simply magical reading tree located in the Nicholsons Shopping Centre.

Event organisers were also thrilled by the huge number of entries into the poster competition, all of which can be viewed in the Inspiration Theatre inside the Nicholsons Shopping Centre... see if you can spot the winning entries proudly displaying their rosettes!

Once Upon a Bus were also parked at the top of the High Street so that young Maidonians could experience the magic of storytelling, bringing stories come to life.  Stories included The Gruffalo, Alice in Wonderland, Aliens in Underpants and many others fun stories.

An array of authors and illustrators enthused and inspired young and old in the Inspiration Theatre, and included:

• Storytelling and Creative Workshop with Lisa Buddin: Lisa shared the inspirations behind the characters in her book, Five Cat Magic and invited children to bring their own characters to life in this interactive workshop.
• Illustration and character design workshop with Stephanie Jayne: Stephanie talked about the fantastic illustrations she does for children's books and explained how you come up with how a character will look.  She has told the audience about her unique and quirky stories of her own recently published rhyming book, ‘Eleanor Hurl the Peculiar Girl’.
• Anyone can be a writer! with Patricia Elliott: Patricia talked about why she finds writing so exciting, what inspires her novels and how you can find your own ideas.  She also offered some top tips for story-making. 
• My Favourite Things! with Coral Rumble: Guests at this fun session learnt how to encourage their child to interact with poems and simple stories using their favourite toys in the process. Coral is a firm believer that when the joy of reading is experienced at a young age, motivation to read becomes much stronger.
• Orang-utan Apes and Rainforest: Global Environmental Issues with Leysa Henderson: a very popular session that focused on the global issues that inspired Leysa to write her books, including topics such as rubbish, waste and plastics. 
• Seances, spooks and spiritualism – the supernatural influences behind The Lost Ones with Anita Frank: Anita discussed how a grieving nation’s obsession with life after death during the First World War and her own family ghost stories inspired her to write The Lost Ones.
• Illustration with Creative Writing Workshop with Fiona Cradduck: Visitors had so much for drawing in this session, with children creating book characters, being guided in how to illustrate a short poem or story in a concertina book.
• A guidance to build fantastic stories... Find Your Story with Kate Poels: Guests spent time learning how to come up with cool characters, super settings and powerful plots to bring their stories to life.
• Meet 'My Mood Stars' with Wendy Woo: Wendy was delighted to be able to tell her stories at this event and share her tactile toys.
• Demystifying Asian food and Culture with Pamela Chen: Through talks and demonstrations, Pamela demystified the delights of Asian cuisine and provided a fascinating insight into eastern culture – bringing Asian food to the western table.
• The Place Where You Are Needed Most with Ric Casale: Our towns and cities are the places that have the greatest influence over life on Earth. The single biggest cause of global warming – the urbanisation of humanity – is potentially the principal solution. Ric explained how we can lead the charge towards a more prosperous yet sustainable future. 
• The Adventures of Charly Holmes with Tim Walker: ​Tim gave a talk on how he and his daughter devised and wrote the Charly Holmes book series, with readings. 

And that's just the first weekend, there are so many events still left to enjoy so check out the full programme and book your place today - click here

​On Friday, 11th October, the Desborough Suite in Maidenhead was full of excited young writers, keen to hone their poetry writing skills as part of Maidenhead’s Big Write, a project run by Maidenhead’s Big Read. The poet, Coral Rumble, led the day, while members of Maidenhead’s Big Read organising team provided practical support.
 
The day was full of interactive fun and writing by Years 5 & 6 pupils, leading to a performance of the written poems in the afternoon, when family members of the children and their teachers were invited to come and watch.  The participating schools were St Mary’s, Waltham St Lawrence, Cookham Dean, Woodlands Park, St Luke’s and Holyport.
 
Coral commented, “I’m thrilled with how today has gone. There was a constant buzz in the theatre from beginning to end; a productive buzz that never became destructive!”
 
It is hoped that this will be the inaugural Big Write, and that many other local school children will be able to experience a day of writing freedom, exploration and recital in the coming years.
 
Stephan Stephan, Chairman of Maidenhead’s Big Read commented “The schools, and the parents, have much reason to be proud of the excellent behaviour and creative focus of their children. It was amazing to see the originality in the room and we hope this has sparked the imaginations of all the children that attended; encouraging them to read more and write innovative pieces”.
 
This event is just one of many organised by Maidenhead’s Big Read whose aim is to increasing reading, the love of reading and associated wellbeing in our community among the young and old whilst at the same time improve the attainment of children in our schools, bring families and neighbours together to share books, stories and activities. 
 
The organising team are currently busy planning the next Maidenhead Big Read 10-day festival that will take over the town centre from 28th February to 8th March 2020. To be kept up to date with all the latest and be the first to know when tickets are released for this next event, keep an eye on the website here: www.maidenheads-big-read.org.uk
 
Stephan continued to say, “We are very thankful to the National Lottery Awards for All, Louis Baylis Trust and Spoors Merry Rixman who were our most generous grant-givers for The Big Read, and this special event, enabling us to continue to bring reading to life as personal development for all.  We are also very grateful for the support from RBWM and Coral Rumble”.