Wednesday July 2nd 2025

Dear Diary,

My third visit in and around Hay-on-Wye was to Clyro Primary this morning. There was a fifteen-minute awards ceremony in the hall first thing, during which the sports day and Endeavour Cup winners were announced. And I couldn’t believe how well the pupils continued to sit still during my thirty-minute assembly that followed straight after that. They were a super audience, listening quietly whilst I read the opening chapters of WARNING: May Contain Dragons – but not afraid to let a giggle or two escape every now and then – and keen to participate with questions and answers afterwards.

With a last-minute switch to the plans, my hour-long workshop in the hall morphed into three thirty-minute workshops in classrooms. And during the first session, I was lucky enough to meet fellow Cranthorpe Millner author, Tamara Price, who’s a teacher at this school.

The sessions all went swimmingly, with pupils eager to get stuck into my activities, to show off their talent by reading their work aloud, and to ask more questions about what it’s like to be an author. And the morning flew by in a flash. But with no photos of any of the work to jog my memory, my tired old brain sadly can’t conjure up any details about all of the super written work that was produced. The pupils should all be so proud of themselves, though. They behaved beautifully whilst I was there. And they really impressed me with their ideas, their creativity, their eagerness to share their work aloud, and their enthusiasm. I had such a wonderful time with them all, and I hope I managed to inspire them, as they certainly inspired me!