Our third children's book - Oaky the Brave Acorn

In February 2017, Theart Press published our third children's books in the Oaky series - Oaky the Brave Acorn.

This is the prequel to Oaky and the Sun and Oaky the Happy Tree.

Such a cute story by Athol Williams (www.atholwilliams.com) with such a positive message about being brave. I loved doing the illustrations of Oaky hanging from the branch, jumping off and having fun with the other acorns rolling in the grass.

Available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com and Theart Press. All proceeds go to literacy NGO READ to RISE so that we can inspire children in South Africa to read.

Athol and I are currently working on the fourth book which will be published in May 2017.

www.theartpressbooks.com

Exploring Summertown - Cutteslowe Park and Sunnymead Park

So after 14 months in Summertown, we discovered Cutteslowe Park and Sunnymead Park is a short walk from where we live. It's the biggest park in North Oxford with large open fields, basketball courts, beach volleyball, jungle gyms, etc. We've noticed that there are so many nice open places in Oxford where you can go for walks.

This is Sunnymead Park which has a beautiful view of the River Cherwell.

Cutteslowe Park stretches over the highway so you have to cross the bridge. Lovely to explore on a lovely Spring day. The clocks went ahead 1 hour on 26 March so the days have become longer, with the sun rising at 6am and setting at 7:30pm. Summer is going to be so nice!

Exploring around the Oxford Castle

Oxford has a lot of interesting areas. I decided to explore the area near to the Oxford Railway near to the Oxford Castle. There are some nice walks along the Oxford Canal. Here is the Isis Lock.

Walking down to the Castle is lovely.

The area by the Oxford Castle is quite a trendy area with a lot of restaurants. There is even the Oxford Central Library.

There is a mound outside the castle.

Athol in Florida for the Salvation Army Gala

One of Athol's friends form Harvard runs the Salvation Army in Sarasota in Florida and invited Athol to be the key note speaker at their Gala on 16 March.

Athol was supposed to go last year, but due high cholesterol and new medication he had to cancel his trip. So it was that this trip was finally happening. Unfortunately, I didn't go with as I don't have a US visa. Would have loved to have gone as I believe it's very nice there.

Athol was in Sarasota 14-19 March and gave a few talks.

The highlight was his talk at the Gala at the Ritz Calton on 23 March.

The Salvation Army kindly donated 50 copies of Pushing Boulders to READ to RISE to distribute to under-resourced communities in South Africa,

Trip to SA 18 February 2017 - 2 March 2017

We flew back to South Africa in February and spent a week in Cape Town.

Athol spent a day at Pinelands North Primary School ion 21 February, speaking to the various grades, teachers and parents about living a life of possibility and pushing boulders. The school is well known for it's inclusiveness and the principal and teachers are great. It's wonderful to see what is possible when a school has good leadership and resources - compared to the terribly under-resourced schools in Mitchells Plain that we work with where they are challenged by things like security. One of the teachers has adopted Athol's autobiography and has been using it in the classes for children to identify their dreams and how they are going to push any boulders that come their way - such a valuable life skill. Athol even arranged a boulder for the school to put in their beautifully decorated garden, to symbolise the idea of pushing boulders.

On Thursday 23 February 2017, I joined our READ to RISE team at Littlewood Primary School in Mitchells Plain. It was great to  meet our new Programme Facilitators Nur, Kercia and Rhondain action. It's always great to join a school visit, a reminder of the children we at READ to RISE are inspiring!

On Thursday evening, Athol had a 'A Life of Possibilities' talk at SASNEV in Pinelands. An inspirational evening.

On Friday 24 February, we launched our third class programme - Oaky the Brave Acorn - at Westville Primary School in Mitchells Plain. The Grade 2 learners got to meet Oaky in person! Athol read the story to the learners - it's a cute story about an acorn named Oaky who learns to be brave. The children loved their new books.

On Sunday 26 February, we flew up to JHB. Athol and Steve had their "Walk in Beauty" talk at the Johannesburg Country Club in the afternoon. It was a delightful afternoon of poetry. Steve launched his first book of poetry, proudly published by yours truly Theart Press :) Athol shared some of his new poems and also some from his latest book of poetry Bumper Cars. All sales from our books go directly to READ to RISE so that more children in need can get books.

On Tuesday 28 February, Athol spoke to staff at Old Mutual in Sandton about a life of possibilities. Athol was previously the Strategy Director of Old Mutual and I worked for Old Mutual as a strategy analyst for 4 years so it was nice to be back and see some familiar faces.

So a great trip back home to SA! Lovely to see family. Was also nice to get away for the Oxford winter and enjoy some sunshine :)