I’ve been the resident poet on a amazing Rochdale project “The Stories We Could Tell”

Working alongside artist, John Cooke, singer-songwriter Rebecca Whitehead and storyteller Ray Stearn and led by Steve Cooke. We’ve been working with young people, a mix of asylum seekers, young people in care and young people with mental health issues using our whole range of skills to help them tell their own stories (real or fictional) and the results so far are awesome. Not only have these young people learned techniques, picked up ideas and developed them and created songs, poems, prose, storyboards, visuals and audio recordings but they have gained so much in confidence and community.

And we, the professionals working with them, have been privileged to share this journey with them, we’ve had our eyes opened, our minds staggered and we’ve had our creativity and our communications stretched. I’m genuinely so proud of the young people, the supporting adults, Colin from the venue Bar Vibe and my fellow artists.

I’m looking forward to the final showcase event in May and will report it here.