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We ran a series of workshops in the North West.

The following is an account of one of the workshops. A selection of the stories in the form of page turners and DVDs will be available here in August. Other formats are also being planned.

Note from a Bootle storymaker.

A few months ago the mums from the Challengers group at Bootle Y.M.C.A. answered an advert looking for people to take part in a project between Scope and Liverpool John Moores University to share experiences and produce some books which would include disabled children. As the Challengers is a group for autistic children and families they all felt they had stories to share.

We all waited eagerly for Becky, our facilitator, to arrive. Two more mums also joined us and it wasn't long before the group were sharing stories.

Becky Cherriman, facilitator looking thoughtful with Project Manager Susan Clow in the background

It was then that the bomb was dropped, we were not going to write just one story, but everyone would write their own. SILENCE ... followed by panic. We were mums not writers. It was then that Becky told us what she was here for - to show us how to bring our experiences into a storyline.

Some of us took more convincing than others, but we all survived and here we are - authors! This will be our claim to fame for ever.

Soon we were told that we were to meet the students from John Moores who would do the graphics for OUR stories. This is getting exciting. We couldn't wait to see what they had done. Several meetings later and we were told not only were the stories illustrated but some had been animated! This gets even better as we have also been asked to attend a conference in London in October. Until then we can boast about seeing our work at the presentation day when our stories came to life. We will all miss our weekly sessions, but then we all have stories to tell so maybe we should carry on and write the next adventures knowing now that we can do it. We even have the certificates to prove it.

Children, students, lecturers and workshop participants at the presentation at Liverpool John Moores University

Our thanks to Scope and John Moores for giving us the opportunity to achieve what initially we felt was impossible.

Special thanks to Becky for all her help and patience, her dedication kept us all going. For what happens next - watch this space ... Jean

Children looking at a student portfolio. Part of a display in a circular room

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