Going on [creative] safari for charity

Today is pretty historic for the world of social media ... 175+ cities across the world are hosting Twestivals and will all be twittering away about it as they raise money for Charity: Water. I'm heading along to support the Leeds Twestival and have also donated a prize to the raffle.

I've described the prize as "A half-day Creative Safari (a volunteer tour guide will take you on a tailor-made expedition to explore your creativity)" ... in a nutshell I'll be spending half a day with the lucky winner and dragging them at high-speed on a whistle stop tour of art galleries and other interesting places in Leeds. Along the way I'll be forcing them to brush off their creative skills by doodling and playing with words. I just hope the person who wins likes walking and eating cakes because there will be plenty of that.

I would love to raise more money for Twestival so I've got a plan ... if you like the sound of spending half a day getting in touch with your inner child then donate £50 to Charity: Water and then get in touch with me. The deal is that if I come to Leeds you also cover my travel (let's call it a tenner) ... if you want to come to York instead then you just pay for your own travel. We'll each buy any refreshments out of our own pockets :-) ... simple!

... And just to make it really interesting ... If you donate £100 or more to Charity: Water then I'll spend the whole day with you :-)

Let the magical mystery creativity tour begin!!

Notes from behind the curtain

On 11th January I spotted a tweet from @nmeth on Twinkle which read: "York Light Opera need backstage people for 2 weeks in Feb at York Theatre Royal" - In a rare moment of decisiveness I sent a message back saying that I might be free ... Nigel put me in touch with David Pumfrey and just under a month later I found myself backstage at York Theatre Royal for the first full dress rehearsal of 42nd Street. I couldn't remember anyone's names, I didn't know any of the backstage lingo, couldn't make head nor tail of the set notes and was petrified that I'd get in the way or generally show myself up as the newbie I was.



Against all odds I enjoyed every nerve wracking minute and after three nights I'm already starting to feel quite at home ... I even know what 'paging the blacks' means ... and will get it right next time! :-)

Tonight I've got a night off because I'm heading to the Leeds Twestival and I can already tell that I'm going to miss those hours spent in the shadows waiting for the next flurry of activity and trying to protect members of the cast from being run over by the fast moving 'treads' (trans: staircase)

The Element (by Ken Robinson) is mine all mine

I put Ken Robinson's new book, The Element, onto my Amazon wishlist the moment I saw it was being published. When I saw it was on special offer at less than half the full price it got immediately promoted to my shopping basket ... can't wait for it to arrive!