Wakefield's first PechaKucha Night

We had a fantastic evening at the first ever PechaKucha Night in Wakefield on Thursday.
For those who have not experienced a PechaKucha - it is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images forward automatically and you talk along to the images.
The presentation format was devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture. So, why this format ? Because architects talk too much! Give a microphone and some images to an architect - or most creative people for that matter - and they'll go on forever! Give powerpoint to anyone else and they have the same problem.
PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps - just about anything really, in the PechaKucha 20x20 format.
Most cities - not just Tokyo - have virtually no public spaces where people can show and share their work in relaxed way. If you have just graduated from college and finished your first project in the real world - where can you show it? It probably won't get into a magazine, you don't have enough photos for a gallery show or a lecture - but PechaKucha 20x20 is the perfect platform to show and share your work.
Wakefield’s first PechaKucha was held and hosted at The Art House and supported by GREEN Communications and The Hepworth Wakefield.
We had several great presentations from:
Jane Walton - on the definition of entrepreneurialism and social enterprise.
Brian Lewis - on creating a conversation through art. I spent a happy five minutes sat on the floor with Brian looking at his 'tarot cards' and creating a narrative on what I saw. Both Brian and I were a bit perplexed that a in a room full of creatives no one came over to find our what two middle aged men where doing sitting on the floor and talking about pictures!
Bob Clayden - great presentation on pin-hole cameras and a planned event next month on building your own pin-hole camera and creating works of art.
Paul Airy - this local artist did an excellent and thoughtful presentation on his forthcoming exhibition: One Word At A Time.
Victoria Lucas and Richard Wheater - two other Wakefield artists who work in light and glass did a great presentation on their latest project - Twelve Months of Neon Love which can be seen from the East Coast Mainline as you arrive at Wakefield Westgate station.
PechaKucha Night Wakefield was a great event - more updates later but be sure to attend as a presenter or as a member of the audience.

Journalism vs Churnalism

A new website launched today which seeks to name and shame journalists and publications caught recycling press releases.
Now we are no strangers to cut and paste journalism and I was probably guilty of in the past if I am honest when, as a journalist, I came a worthy piece of news wrapped up in an elegantly written press release.
In truth, at GREEN we are manned by many former journalists so most of our press releases are written in the manner would expect the journalist to write them for their particular publication.
Churnalism.com has been launched by the Media Standards Trust and takes up the baton from Guardian journalist Nick Davies - who popularised the term Churnalism, for journalism which is little more than re-writing press releases, in his 2008 book Flat Earth News.
The site invites people to paste press releases into it, Churnalism.com then compares the press release with news stories published online to reveal how much is apparently cut and pasted by the journalist.
Examples this morning include a press release from Asda stating that families are now £8 a week better off than a year ago, which was apparently 89 per cent cut and pasted into a story appearing on Mail Online.
Media Standards Trust Director Martin Moore said: "News organisations can now be much more transparent about the sources of their articles, but most of them still aren’t. Hiding the connection between PR and news is not in the interests of the public. Hopefully churnalism.com will nudge them to be more open about their use of PR material.
"Even with press releases that are clearly in the public interest - medical breakthroughs, government announcements, school closures, and perhaps even this website launch - it is still better that articles are transparent about their sources.
"Maybe churnalism.com will also encourage more original journalism. Exposing unoriginal churn may help slow the steep decline in the amount of original reporting that we’ve seen in the last few years."
That’s all very good but I suppose you have to pose the question if the story is good enough in a press release then right-minded journalists will use. If they have any doubts the first rule is always go back to the source and challenge the content
Full disclosure: This story was based on a press release from the Media Standards Trust and other coverage on various websites.

Howard Carter on DEET

Our friend Howard Carter at incognito offers some insight into the issues surrounding DEET insect repellent and how mosquitoes are becoming increasingly resistant to this toxin.

How social are you? Fancy a pint?

Social media has transformed the internet in the past five years but many companies still struggle to embrace it. I was recently invited by iGaming Business Magazine to write an article offering a simple strategy for managing your digital profile. Here it is:

Let’s imagine you’re in the pub having a conversation with your best mate about your local football team’s dismal standing in the league table.
Someone else in the bar, a stranger, is eavesdropping. He is a fellow fan and commiserates with you about the teams failings - so he joins in your conversation about the team’s bad management. The landlady behind the bar chips in her views. And the old bloke sat at his usual table holds forth about the team’s poor defence. Everyone enjoys a conversation.
Now let’s imagine you’re online on your Facebook account having the same conversation with a bunch of people who have become friends with you because you’re all interested in the same football team. You’ve never met them in real life but you have a shared interest that you wish to talk about - and there are thousands of you.
As a definition of social media - such as websites like Facebook, Linkedin, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Plaxo, FourSquare and the emerging mobile applications - the term ‘conversation’ neatly sums up what social media is. It is an ongoing digital dialogue which is having a huge impact on people’s personal lives but also on businesses too.
Now imagine the conversation around your brand - whether you are a game developer, operator, distributor or manufacturer - and consider what people are saying about your company. Are you listening? Are you engaged? Are you adding to the conversation? No? I thought not. Most businesses don’t bother and they are missing a huge marketing opportunity.
Some people love your company and brand and are talking about it in glowing terms but you are not talking to them. Others really don’t like you and are telling others why they hate you but you are not talking to them. Are you?
If you’re not in the conversation, you’re not engaged. If you’re not engaged you’re not in game and your brand can be trashed. Meanwhile, in failing to engage with social media your company’s ranking on the search engines will be significantly curtailed as social media is now one of the main influencers in search engine optimisation.
Let’s look at the statistics. If Facebook was a country it would be the third most populated ahead of the United States - only China and India are bigger.  More than 500 billion minutes are spent on Facebook every month and 25 million items of content - links, blogs, photos, videos, news - are posted there every month. One third of 18 to 34 years check their Facebook account after they wake up.
Twenty four hours of video content is uploaded on to YouTube every minute and two billion YouTube videos viewed every day - this is rising sequentially. Meanwhile, more than four billion images are hosted on Flickr. Elsewhere, 95 per cent of companies use Linkedin to identify and attract new staff and there are more than 27 million tweets per day on Twitter.
Are they talking about you? Possibly. Are your talking to them? Probably not.
Social media is not a revolution. It has evolved as people have adapted to the internet and moulded it into a media which suits their needs and desires but business has been slow to embrace the opportunities of social media. And curiously, the gaming sector - which should be the most digitally enabled - is failing miserably.
Major companies now recognise the importance of social media as a communications and marketing medium. Scores of business-to-consumer brands now how thousands and in some cases, millions of followers on their Facebook and Twitter sites and are happily talking with their customers, addressing criticism and accepting praise.
Any company considering this powerful new marketing tool must use it as part of the overall marketing strategy of the business. For instance, why bother with a blog or Twitter account if you do not have a link to them on your corporate website?
For any marketing manager in the games sector considering a social media footprint the most simple strategy is: Follow, Create and then Engage.
Follow: seek the online community which is talking about your company online. They might be customers, employees, suppliers and competitors. Understand what they are saying about your company - their likes and dislikes. There are simple  tools on the web to seek out your community - either using Google or more specialist social media search sites like addictomatic.com
Create: Establish a personality and tone of voice for your brand and create an social media profile which might include a blog, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook page.
Engage: Join in the conversation through your blog and other social media websites. Follow people in your field, those who are talking about you and engage with them. You will quickly begin to establish a community who you will engage with.
Not everyone will be a fan. There will always be detractors but at least you are now part of the conversation and can address any issues as and when they arise.
As a marketing tool social media is the most potent tool in your possession and can significantly improve how you communicate with your customers - covering all areas from sales promotion to crisis management. Meanwhile, it will do wonders for your search engine optimisation significantly improving your company’s digital footprint.

It's Burn's Night Tonight!

Ian, left, with best mate Andy Grant

Six lessons from The King's Speech

The Oscar-tipped The King’s Speech is a great film but also highlights valuable lessons for communicators - with its story centred on the relationship between King George VI and his unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue and how together, they achieve extraordinary results.
Here are six lessons for communications consultants from The King’s Speech:
1 Work as a partnership of equals. The best results come from two sides, aligning themselves to their common interests to achieve their goal. At the very beginning of their relationship the consultant recognised that deference should not get in the way of addressing their common task, and insisted he should be called ‘Lionel’ rather than Mr Logue, and in turn, he should call the King by his affectionate pet name of ‘Bertie’. By working as equal partners it helps to create optimum synergies. If it were an equation it would read: 1+1= 3.
2 The consultant needs to insist the working relationship is on their professional terms. In addition to getting his client to use Christian names, the consultant was equally insistent that the training had to be done at his premises and on a daily, not weekly basis.
3 Be brave and be prepared to walk away. At the outset Logue took a high risk strategy of ‘take it or leave it’ in offering his services to the future King. He stood to lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Yet, he recognised how he might get over the first hurdle but ultimately would fail if he did not stand by his professional principles. How often do consultants fail to heed the early warning signs of potential problems with their clients and remain afraid to take the tough decision if necessary?
4 Look for causes rather than addressing the symptoms. Rather than address the evident manifestations of the King’s speech impediment Logue examined for deeper root causes to the King’s ailment. By doing this, in spite of initial client opposition, he could make a real difference. The client is not always right. Sometimes they may shy away from real causes of a problem.
5 Accept sometimes you have to say ‘sorry’ and on occasions you may need to make up. The film portrays the disagreements between the client and consultant and how they row and fall out. They could have easily stubbornly gone their separate ways. The recognition of the value each brought to the other overcome personal pride. Inevitably, in any dynamic client/consultant relationship there will be up’s and down’s. The best relationships are bigger than the disagreements which may sometimes upset them.
6 Be there for the critical times. When King George had to make his epic war-time speeches rallying the nation in its darkest hour, Logue was there at his side, ensuring in the most important times for his client he was at hand.
You too can enjoy the success of Lionel Logue. You may not have a King as a client, but they will hopefully respect you royally.

What really motivates us...

The Power of Time

Really good appraisal of where we are now with how we order our lives...

Ross is using his skills to find a job

s it’s often said that if you can sell yourself you can sell anything, so we were delighted to see our chum Ross Brown taking up the challenge by - using the tools of his trade to find a new job.
For 10 years, Ross has been self-employed, working with clients and agencies to provide them both with expertise in digital marketing. From initial strategy and planning through to production and delivery, Ross’s work encompasses all aspects of digital marketing - from web sites to email campaigns, search engine optimisation to audio & video production.
Now he’s utilising this expertise to promote himself, using both traditional and digital marketing techniques, to find a new job.
And he’s offering a reward of £250 to whoever can help him find his dream role.
"I’m missing working with a team on a regular basis and the buzz you get in an office environment, he says. "For me, it’s the role that’s important, not the title on the business card. I want a job where I can make a real impression, perhaps helping a business to grow whilst delivering high-quality work."
As a former journalist and PR manager, Ross is well-placed to take advantage of the boom in social media, planning and delivering campaigns using marketing channels such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs to allow a company to communicate directly with its customers.
But he’s using this expertise to his own advantage for the first time.
Commenting on his campaign, Ross says: "Since the millennium, I’ve worked with clients and agencies large & small, combining my expertise in marketing, technology and business to deliver cost-effective and high-quality digital solutions.
I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent in self-employment but the time is right for me both professionally and personally to return to full-time employment - and using the marketing tools I specialise in seems like the best way to find the perfect job."
He adds: "Most people in my line of work either deal with clients, or deal with programming and development. Because of my experience in self-employment, not only can I speak to clients in a language they understand - explaining the business benefits of a digital strategy - but I can also speak to the development team and ensure that the finished product is both technically-proficient and meets the client’s requirements.”
Ross is using his blog at www.rossbrown.co.uk to record the progress of what he’s calling "Operation Job", using his social media marketing skills to promote himself through his business and personal networks.

Five day Twixtmas work out

Over at GREEN we are celebrating Twixtmas. You can transform your personal happiness by doing a five-day work out during the Twixtmas break - the period between Christmas and New Year.
By following some easy-to-do ‘happiness workout’ tips you can make yourself happier, ready to step into 2011 with more optimism and energy.
The binge happiness five-day programme consists of completing what is called a ‘happy diary’ for each of the five days of Twixtmas, December 27-December 31, which focus on the happy, positives in your life.
Writing down positive thoughts and feelings has been proven to beat just talking about them. Scientists believe that writing encourages the creation of a structure and storyline which can help people make sense of what has happened in their past and also guide and direct them towards finding solutions. Just talking about problems can often be unstructured, disorganised, and even chaotic. As a result, it can add a sense of confusion to your emotional state.
Twixtmas campaigner and GREEN director Andy Green said: "Arm yourself with pen and paper and make some time during the Twixtmas break to give yourself a five-day happiness work-out. Expressing your appreciation and thinking about the positive aspects of your future, or even writing affectionate things, have been scientifically proven to work and make you feel better in yourself.”
The 5 day ‘binge happiness work-out’ consists of:
Day 1 Write down four things from the past week which have made you feel grateful. Then think about and write down how one of the best experiences in your life made you feel.
Day 2 Write about something good you have done for someone else.
Day 3 Write a short email or letter to someone who you like or care for. Why not tell them how good they are and why they are important to you?
Day 4 Make a list of your favourite places visited or places you would like to go. Think about why you liked them so much or what attracts you to want to go there.
Day 5 write about your future, where everything has gone as well as you have hoped. Also, think about the present and make a note of four things that went really well for you during the five days of Twixtmas.
"The five days of Twixtmas, between December 27 and December 31, are an ideal time to do your very own binge happiness work-out. Most people put things off or don’t get round to doing them because they say they don’t have time. There is no excuse for most of us over the Twixtmas break to enjoy some ‘binge happiness’," said Andy.
The Twixtmas campaign is a new idea to change what is seen as a dull, fallow holiday period into a massive opportunity to get people to do small acts of goodness to create significant social good for themselves and others.
Instead of binge shopping or binge drinking, the not-for-profit campaign is trying to encourage binge doing, thinking and ‘binge happiness’ to overcome the problem of ‘time poverty’ – where people perceive they do not have enough time to do things for themselves or others, or the planet.
The campaign was originally conceived by social enterprise the Flexible Thinking Forum.
The website www.twixtmas.com offers practical advice and inspiration to encourage everyone to make the most of this under-used opportunity. The site also provides a free facility for sending a Twixtmas e-greeting card, and you can also download a Twixtmas pledge form.
If just 0.1% of the UK population did five good things this would create 250,000 acts of goodness.

UK's Top Ten PR Blogs

According to Cision’s latest list of the UK’s top 10 public relations blogs my modest little blog here has made the top ten:

1. NevilleHobson.com
2. Drew B’s take on tech PR
3. Wadds’ PR and Media blog
4. A PR Guy’s Musings – Stuart Bruce
5. PR STUDIES
6. PR Media Blog
7. The Red Rocket
8. Mediations
9. SimonWakeman
10. iangreen.com

Not sure whether this blog merits the mention but it’s interesting to read their methodology and how Cision have chosen iangreen.com. They have also created a great resource of the top ten blogs on a wide range of topics from tech to fashion.
Like Stuart Bruce it’s interesting to note that I have engaged with all the other bloggers listed here either through social media and eventually face to face.
The other interesting point to note is that Cision still regards blogs as having a key purpose in the media mix. About eight moths ago there was a big discussion about whether blogs were past their sell by date with the rise of Facebook and Twitter.
However, some blogs have such a devoted audience that many PR companies are pitching product and stories to them as they appreciate the influence they have.
The other aspect of course now corporates are now seeing the sense of have a dedicated blog alongside their “traditional” website and news feed. This is all great but I suspect the real reason is that corporates and other have finally realised how potent social media is as a means of enhancing a website’s search engine optimisation.
And I need to hold my hadn up here because at GREEN Communications we are advocating this approach for that very reason – especially when some SEO specialists are charging the less-media savvy clients over £5,000 a month to manage their SEO.

How to start a mass movement

There is a brilliant presentation on how to start a mass movement in three minutes’ by Derek Sivers, an inspirational entrepreneur speaking at the TED conference
It features a crazy guy dancing by himself at a rock festival. Within three minutes his reality - and world - is transformed by a mass stampede of festival go-ers wanting to part of the new next must-do thing. Sivers brilliantly deconstructs and analyses the process:

• First you need to lone nut.
• The lone nut needs to a dance (or equivalent) that’s distinctive but easily copy-able.
• Crucially, you need a #2 fan who is willing by themselves to join the lone nut.
• With the support and encouragement of the lone nut, the #2 fan is nurtured into being able to do the dance.
• #3 nut joins in. This is also crucial; there is no longer a lone nut, but a discernable group emerging.
• Quickly, other early adopters join-in.
• Next thing you know there is now a panic as people rush to join, anxious not to be left out.

Well, we at GREEN know how it feels to be a lone nut. We have put our head above the parapet and urged others to join in the crusade for Twixtmas.
You cannot underestimate how good it feels when you get a positive response. It is even more gratifying when people start to take massive action.
David Taylor, the famous motivational writer and author of the Naked Leader did not just smile, and politely think Twixtmas was a nice idea. He could have become the example of a #2 fan as he then circulated the Twixtmas message to the entire readership of his newsletter.
Thank you David for your courage, and positive action.
Could you now pluck up the courage to be a#3 or #4 or #5 or #6-fan?
Can you take action beyond acknowledgement? Can you make the world different through doing something now for Twixtmas?

Hope for Bhopal

President Obama was elected on a mandate for HOPE.
He, quite rightly, held BP accountable for the recent oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and their liability is already estimated at $40billion.
The 1984 Bhopal disaster has NEVER been cleaned up. Toxic waste, from the factory that caused the disaster, has contaminated the drinking water of many tens of thousands of people. They are being poisoned TODAY.
An American company, Dow Chemical, are legally responsible for this contamination. President Obama has elected the CEO of Dow Chemical, Mr.Andrew Liveris, to his 'India-US CEO forum'. On Monday Obama will address the Indian Parliament and the people of Bhopal still HOPE for justice. Please circulate this image...

Happy Apple Day

Recruiting again at GREEN

GREEN Communications is recruiting again. This time we are looking for a talented Account Manager and Account Executive with a sound knowledge of the consumer and business sectors to join our highly motivated team.
You will need to hit the ground running and have a passion for creative media relations, a desire to deliver outstanding coverage for your clients, the ability to think on your feet and work as part of a large team.
The ideal candidate will need a broad spread of media contacts across consumer, lifestyle and business within the broadcast, national press, consumer press, online as well as freelancers. An interest in social media is also desired.
The work you will be required to undertake will have a broad business and consumer focus and will include working on high profile campaign activity.
Further information call Ian Green on 0845 4503210. Send CVs with covering letter to Ian at Green Communications, Wakefield Media Centre, 19 King Street, Wakefield, WF1 2SQ or email: ian@greencomms.com.

PR still doesn't get social media

Nearly 60% of PR agencies and departments that monitor social media spend no more than two hours a week doing so, despite its perceived importance.
These findings form part of a research project carried out by Daryl Willcox Publishing into the social media habits of the PR industry. The publication of the research coincides with the launch of a new whitepaper examining tools to monitor social media.
Of 376 PR departments and agencies surveyed, 85% said they monitored social media, including blogs and forums, for coverage and conversations.
Thirty one per cent of these said they dedicated an hour or less each week monitoring social media, while 26% spent between one and two hours. More than a third (36%) spent between three and six hours monitoring with 7% putting aside at least a day each week.
Ninety per cent of departments and agencies monitoring social media said they did so because it was an important element of their media monitoring.
Sixty eight per cent of respondents said they used free online tools and search engines to monitor, while 42% said they visited each social platform individually.
“The consensus now in the PR industry is that social media is of real importance and our survey findings support that,” said Daryl Willcox, chairman and founder of Daryl Willcox Publishing. “Our research also suggests there could be room for greater emphasis on monitoring social media despite the many online tools, free and paid-for, now available to help PR professionals pick up online conversation.”
The research also discovered reluctance among PR professionals to join in with online conversations. Almost half (49%) of departments and agencies only joined in when people were getting things factually wrong while 17% did not get involved at all.
Twenty six per cent of respondents said they did engage and declared their PR role while 8% hid who they were representing in online conversations.
Of the 15% which did not monitor social media, 51% cited a lack of resource, 29% said a lack of knowledge stopped them and 11% felt there was no value in it.

Well all of this is from a DWP press release. But bloody hell! It’s not that difficult to monitor social media 24/7 given all the tools available to PR professionals.
At GREEN, I would hope that we know exactly what is being said about our clients all the time and that we engage with those people who are talking about the brands that matter to us most. The point is with social media it’s not just about listening and monitoring. It’s about getting involved and sharing views – whether they are good, bad or indifferent.

Good Dads and Truthiness

From Andy: Just seen a great new film, The World’s Greatest Dad starring Robin Williams. I will not spoil your treat by giving away the plot, but just to say there is a twist half way through which turns the world upside down of the lead character played by Robin Willliams. (There is also a comic moment of great genius - you know these when the well behaved cinema audience responds with totally raucous laughter.)
The film’s other remarkable quality was its parody of how we choose to create our own reality of events, or own interpretation – and re-interpretation in the case of the film, of what we believe to be true – our ‘truthiness’.
Truthiness is an important concept for anyone being creative, generating creative ideas, and also in brand communications in getting your ideas accepted.
Sometimes you can get insight from someone outside the field of study, a non-expert in the domain.
A major philosophical concept, well at least a label, was not created by a philosopher - but by a comedian. During an episode of the political satire show The Colbert Report comedian Stephen Colbert coined the word ‘truthiness’. It means in essence: ‘the quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true, rather than the facts.’
Our reality is that we all see the world through ‘truthiness glasses’. Perceptions, are just as valid as facts in our mental landscapes,
People erect barriers in their mental landscape preventing the recognition of ‘the truth’ of any new information with which they might feel uncomfortable.
They did not want the dissonance, the anxiety to upset their existing world view, which acts as a magnet for any negative information about things you dislike, and precludes contradictory data; otherwise your definition of truth would need to be re-evaluated.
So, it does not matter if a fact exists or not, in terms of being validated by data. You can have your own facts.
On the one hand truthiness is what some people want to exist.
On the other hand it is what some people don’t want to exist.
And that’s the truthiness of it. My truthiness is that The World’s Greatest Dad is a great film.

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

What the F**k is Social Media NOW?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan.

Echo & the Bunnymen - Cutter

Bibliophile's delight in Addingham

Just spent a delightful day in Addingham, in Wharfedale, West Yorkshire. Addingham is quiet near to us and we often go to The Fleece Inn for lunch during a walk to Bolton Abbey.
However, we have never really explored the village so after lunch we took a walk up the main street and discovered a real retail gem at the TP Children’s Bookshop where we met the delightful Lou Harrison.
The bookshop is a delight for bibliophiles – especially those who retain a fondness for the books they read as a children – and Lou is a fund of knowledge on the authors and the books themselves. She’s not just a collector, she’s a reader too.
And we spent a happy half hour in conversation whilst browsing the shelves collectible copies of Enid Blyton, Rosemary Sutcliff, BB, Captain WE Johns, Richmal Crompton... the list goes on.
My wife, Annie, was particularly charmed with the girls literature - of which I know nothing - and she and Lou had a long conversation about books I’ve never encountered. These included The Abbey Girls series, The Susan Books by Jane Shaw and Rosemary Sutcliff’s Queen Elizabeth.
I was particularly pleased to find a copy of BB’s Little Grey Men – a book which charmed me as a child - and which I bought on the spot. Suffering from mild dyslexia as a child I didn’t learn to read or write until was about nine and I think it was BB that got me started.
BB was a prolific and successful writer and illustrator of children's books, his crowning achievement being The Little Grey Men, the story of the adventures of the last four gnomes in England, which won the prestigious Carnegie Medal in 1942.
The seeds of the idea for The Little Grey Men were sown when, as a small child, BB saw 'a diminutive being. It had a round, very red, bearded face about the size of a small crab apple. It wasn't a dream I can still see the little red astonished face.'
In later years, as a child alone (he was sickly and educated at home) BB explored the countryside around his home and created a mind set of the adventures of the gnomes, Dodder, Baldmoney, Cloudberry and Sneezewort and their life along the Folly Brook.
In 1944, Brendon Chase, a stirring tale of three runaway schoolboys living in a forest, like Robin Hood and his merry men, confirmed BB as an established writer of children's fiction.
In 1946, Down the Bright Stream, the follow-up to The Little Grey Men appeared, and in the same year, BB's Fairy Book: Meeting Hill. This book relates the magical experiences of two children, Peter and Johanna, and contains extracts from classic fairy stories, It also includes 15 exquisite colour plates by BB's alter ego Denys Watkins-Pitchford.
Anyway, if you’re ever in Addingham check out the TP Children’s Bookshop and give our regards to Lou.