So it’s been a bit quiet on here for the last couple of months. I’ve had a pretty busy time off-screen in real life which has meant I’ve not been able to devote as much as time as I had hoped to updating my blog and website. In a nutshell childcare has been patchy on…
Category: Life
Nic Turner
Every so often you have the pleasure to meet someone who really stands out from the crowd in terms of their approach and attitude to living. One such person crossed my path at the last Lunar21 event in November 2015, looking at the ‘power of co-creation‘. His name was Nic Turner and he was sitting…
Human Library
Two weeks ago I volunteered to be a book at the Derby Human Library, a great idea where people describe themselves as a book title and others can book them out to ‘read’, or find our more about a person who might otherwise be subject to stereotypes. I first can across the idea when Vanessa…
#NoticeNature
Valentine’s Day was the first day of 2016 that I remember being sunny and warm. I decided to go for a trek around Elvaston Castle grounds and found an amazing deserted old farm complex that was obviously part of the original house complex. The detail in the buildings was beautiful, and much of the original…
Feeling sad and a bit old
It struck me the other day, that my youth, the things I did in my teens and twenties have been consigned to history. I feel sad about this – that the popular movements, music and ideals are no longer with us. Time has moved on and I feel very old. I suppose that I am…
Nottingham Contemporary visit
I decided to try a second visit the to the Nottingham Contemporary last weekend, after reading good things about their children’s activities. I invited one of my friends from Derby Museums along, who also has a son slightly younger than M as another point of view. The first time I visited I had more of…
A great start to 2016.
So I cleared out the house this weekend. Mark and Mylo exited, leaving me with 12 months of accumulated crud to tackle, with a huge side helping of Christmas presents and and holiday icing dirt to finish. What an appealing prospect. Well, from the point of view of being an autie it was. One of…
OMG: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
So I feel about twelve years old at the moment. Just got back from watching the latest Star Wars movie and it was totally amazing. The writers have managed to fit three movie’s worth of references into one feature film. There was patricide (down a bloody deep shaft) comedy, wobbly musicians, a new improved R2D2…
Derby Local Offer event
I attended the Derby Local Offer event at Derby QUAD last Friday. It hosted a number of organisations who work with young people (read up the the age of 25), who have disabilities and other additional needs. I went in a number of roles. Firstly to see if there was anything relevant for the Autism…
Volunteering for Derby Museums – first impressions.
So a brief conversation on twitter about Aves, the music @DMNature gallery had commissioned for their natural history spaced turned into a fully fledged volunteer opportunity working within the co-production team. My main contact is Andrea Hadley-Johnson, the Co-Production Manager who is an amazing arts and culture professional who was the Head of Display at…