The new Poet Laureate – and me!

Congratulations to Carol Ann Duffy on being appointed the new – and first ever woman – Poet Laureate.

To mark the event, the BBC commissioned a selection of poets – including me – to write a poem offering the next Poet Laureate some advice. You can read our poems here.

I’d like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Andrew Motion for the fabulous work he has done as Poet Laureate over the last 10 years. He has touched many many people with his poetry during that time. I was particularly touched by the poem he was commissioned to write recently for BBC Radio 4’s BH programme. Read the poem here I adore his image of crocuses as gas jets …

I look forward to savouring the poems Carol Ann Duffy writes as our next Laureate.

Thank you St Oswald’s School

Thank you to the pupils and staff at St Oswald’s School, just down the road from me in Fulford, on the outskirts of York. They welcomed me very warmly into their community today, and I enjoyed seeing inside their fantastic new school building.

St Oswald's Primary School

First of all I performed my Buzzing! show for the whole school. Then a group of children performed a poem for me. It had a great ‘clickety clack’ train rhythm running throughout. I wish them good luck in their performance poetry competition!

After break I led a poetry workshop with Mrs Stinson’s Year 3 class, who discovered some great creatures – unknown to science – during the course of the morning. Well done to all of them!

Today’s school visit was special for two reasons. Firstly, it was the first performance I’ve cycled to – on my wonderful new electric bike. TheBigBuzz electric bike is called Bizzy Lizzy, and she is making it possible for me to get to all sorts of places I couldn’t get to before!

Bizzy Lizzy - theBigBuzz bike

The second reason today’s visit was special was that I was able to take in a sample Rosemary beetle for the children to see. I found this very beautiful beetle in my garden last Thursday. Andrew Halstead from RHS Wisley has confirmed that this is only the second Rosemary beetle ever to be recorded in York – and the only one ever recorded on my side of the River Ouse. Find out more

I asked the children at St Oswald’s to look in their gardens and see if they’ve got any Rosemary beetles where they are. I’m looking forward to hearing back from them!

I’d also love to receive feedback about today’s visit from any pupils or staff – so please, email me by clicking on ‘Comment’ or ‘Leave a reply’ at the foot of this blog post, or email info@theBigBuzz.biz  I look forward to hearing from you!

Anneliese Emmans Dean – info@theBigBuzz.biz – www.theBigBuzz.biz

Schools Out Compost Crew

Congratulations to the West Bank Park Compost Crew, who arrived at the park in York on Wednesday morning as a disparate group of 6 to 9-year-olds, and by Thursday lunchtime had become transformed into a fully trained Compost Crew, performing my ‘Compost! The (mini-)Musical‘ with great gusto to crowds of onlookers! Oh, and they also became media superstars, with The Press on hand to take their photo, which appeared in today’s paper.

The photos below show how that transformation took place, over the course of two mornings, all outdoors in the park.

I am indebted to The Green Man (aka Stephen Whittaker from City of York Council, Parks and Open Spaces), Dr Rotter (aka Catherine Bamford from York Rotters) and The Bog Lady (aka Catherine Heinemeyer – with Bog Baby and Compost Crew Mascot Conor in tow - from the Friends of West Bank Park) for bringing their expertise and enthusiasm along and helping me to train our Compost Crew. I’m also very grateful to Gail from WRAP, for ensuring we had the right compost bins in the right place at the right time!

Two of the compost bins the children decorated and used in their musical have gone into immediate service, one in the park café and one in Pine Trees, just next to the park. So, the children have already made a big difference to making the world a cleaner, greener place. What a great thing to have achieved in their school holiday! Well done Compost Crew!

To find out more – and order your Compost! The (mini-)Musical Teaching Pack – click here

www.theBigBuzz.biz

Compost Awareness Week – 08

Mrs Finn’s Year 4 class at Archbishop of York’s Junior School are having a busy National Compost Awareness week this year. On Saturday, as part of York Fiesta, they performed my musical ‘Compost! The (mini-)musical’ in bright sunshine in York town centre, to a crowd of enthusiastic onlookers.

York Rotters were on hand with a stand to advise people about how to start composting, or to improve their composting further. Before the performance, Rotter John Cossham (the man in the white t-shirt in the photo above) came and gave the children a pep talk, which included balancing one of their drum beaters on his nose! (John also masquerades as juggler Professor Fiddlesticks.)

Then today, Dougie Weake of Radio York turned up at Archbishop of York’s Junior School to record the children singing some of the musical, and to interview some of us:

We’re all looking forward to hearing the piece on Radio York tomorrow!

 Listen to the Radio York interview

Scarcroft School visit

The Reception and Year 1 classes at Scarcroft Primary School in York were Buzzing! this morning, when I went to perform my minibeast show for them.

It was a great pleasure to visit Scarcroft School, on several counts.

Firstly, it was an architechtural pleasure. Scarcroft is one of the schools in York designed by ‘the Yorkshire Lutyens’, Walter Brierley. Built in 1896, it is considered his ‘masterpiece’, and though I have driven past almost it all my life, I had never been inside before.

Secondly, it was a personal pleasure, as the Head, Mrs Anna Cornhill, and I were at school together in York. So I was very pleased to catch up with her.

Thirdly, it was an educational pleasure, as the children were very enthusiastic, and told me all about the minibeasts they had seen in their gardens and houses and allotments. They also showed me the Painted Lady caterpillers they had in their classroom, which they were watching develop. And they also showed me the fantastic snails that they had recently made. Take a look at these. Aren’t they wonderful?

Thank you to the staff – including Mrs Cornhill, Karen Frizzell, Mrs Mason, Miss Bond and Mrs Woodhouse – and to the pupils for welcoming me so warmly to their school.

RES Lesley Goodman Award

I am extremely honoured to have been awarded the 2008 Lesley Goodman Award by the Royal Entomological Society. The award – of £1000 – will enable me to take my multimedia Buzzing! show to various venues in Britain.

Buzzing! is ‘Edutainment for all the family!’ – a fun celebration of garden minibeasts in poetry, projected close-up images and music. Read show feedback

The RES/Goodman Award is awarded:
‘For advancing the education of the public in the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of all aspects of Insect Physiology, thereby promoting the control and conservation of insect species.’

The first RES/Goodman-funded show that I have arranged will take place at a well-known local wildlife sanctuary, York Cemetery. This will be on the evening of Wednesday 25th June, during National Insect Week. I shall be performing Buzzing! as part of a moth night being organised there by local moth expert Dr Dave Chesmore, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society.

It’s a free event – do come along! Who knows what amazing insects we’ll find …

For a full list of upcoming Buzzing! performances, click here.

Return to theBigBuzz website

Hitting the Headlines!

My performance of Buzzing! tomorrow at St Nick’s Environmental Centre in York got great publicity in the local paper today. As did the (world-first) Berberis sawfly larvae in our garden!

Read the article in full: The Press article, 10.8.07 (pdf)

Find out more about our Berberis sawfly larvae

Try out Compost! The (mini-)Musical