I was in Belfast

Trip to the Czech Republic Work in progress

I was in Belfast

If you are ever searching for a perfect pint of Guinness there’s no need to look any further. The Crown Bar in Belfast is the place to go to.

I don’t know how they do it, but Guinness doesn’t taste as good anywhere else. Visiting The Crown Bar is one of many great tips I’ve had from Kate from Speaking of Books. It was of course Speaking of Books who organised my trip to Belfast.

I was invited to Belfast by Book Trust Northern Ireland and my trip was sponsored by Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The reason behind my visit was launching Bookstart Treasure Pack for pre-schoolers. I’m proud to say that one of the books which children get free in their packs is ”Puffin Peter”.

During my stay I was well looked after by Liz and Kathryn from Booktrust. Liz and Kathryn were great company and they did a great job to make everything run nice and smoothly.

My first visit was at Barbour Nursery School in Lisburn. It was a great morning. The children were fantastic and so was the Bear.In the afternoon I worked with foster children in The Duncairn Centre. I did some reading, drawing and together we made this picture. The children were good fun to work with and the result is pretty good I think.

On Wednesday I went to Grove Library. I was amazed to see the library beautifully decorated with images from Puffin Peter. The children who came to my talk were from Hazelwood Nursery.

Here is Amelia and me. Amelia, aged 4 goes to Hazelwood Nursery.

She gave me this picture of Suzy Goose which she painted herself. I was very impressed.

The same afternoon I did one more talk and workshop at The Duncairn Centre for children from Bunscoil Mhic Reachtain School. It was fun and children worked very hard on their mural.Apart from meeting lots of children I also met lots of lovely people involved in Booktrust, art, libraries, schools and fostering. It was my second visit to Northern Ireland and I had a great time once again.