Happy New Year! As we get ready for another year of creative happenings, we wanted to share our 2023 round-up
395 children and their grown-ups joined us at least once to read, sing, play games and make crafts at our weekly Story Box sessions across four community venues.
We hosted 5 Reading Folk Book Clubs, helping new mums find time to read for pleasure. It was exciting to bring Reading Folk to Kirkby for the first time as part of the Knowsley Arts Project.
We hosted an International Women’s Day writing workshop with Skywriters exploring resistance and resilience.
Our 2023 Book Club read Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Jennette McCurdy’s memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died, Maame by Jessica George, Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris, Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks and The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell.
Over the Spring and Summer, we brought our creative pop-up to community spaces across Liverpool, working with 15 organisations. We read, played games and made lots of crafts!
In June, we started a new Writing for the Soul course with Square Pegs CIC.
In the summer, we worked with Merseyside Play Action Council to host art workshops at their summer events, and we made lots and lots of eco-flower pod cups.
We had a Spooktacular October half-term, bringing The Story Box at Hallowe’en to libraries, youth clubs and community centres across the city.
In December, we brought Santa’s Grotto to Walton Vale Community Shop. Over one hundred children and their grown-ups met Santa, took home a gift and made a Christmas wreath with My Outdoor Classroom.
To end the year, we hosted ten magical Christmas Story Box events and a Christmas Party for Babies under-1 and gifted over 100 books to celebrate the season.