Somerset CBG Launch

Yesterday, we were thrilled to welcome everyone to the launch of our new Somerset Children’s Book Group. After months of planning, it was wonderful to see everything coming together on the day and we couldn’t have done it without the support we received.

Children’s publisher, Nosy Crow, provided us with these gorgeous goodie bags, full of treats. Each included Fleur’s latest book, ‘Murder at Snowfall’, the new Frank and Bert story, ‘The One Where Bert Learns to Ride a Bike’ and a proof copy of either, ‘The Nowhere Thief’ by Alice M Ross or ‘My Life on Fire’ by Cath Howe, as well as the lovely Pip and Posy bags, bookmarks and postcards. It was incredibly generous of them and there were many ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as people peeked inside! Sîan was particularly helpful and supportive and we are so grateful.

Sidcot School kindly allowed us to use their Meeting House to host the event. Their housekeeping and catering departments were brilliant, making sure we had everything we needed. We were also pleased to be joined by some students from the school who ran the raffle and helped with the teas and coffees. Thank you to all involved.

The Somerset CBG is one of the many children’s book groups up and down the country that collectively form the Federation of Children’s Book Groups. Each group is unique in its approach, but we are all united by our commitment to sharing the love of books and reading to everyone, everywhere. There has been a huge wave of support from our fellow groups and we were delighted that members from several other groups were able to join us for our launch. Book-ish people are lovely people!

Alistair (and his lovely dad!) from Books on the Hill in Clevedon came to set up a bookshop for the event. Once people had registered and gathered their goodie bag, they were quick to grab a cup of tea and spend some time browsing the wonderful range of books on offer, including a couple of exclusives. ‘Nell and the Cave Bear: The Journey Home’ by Martin Brown and ‘Winter’s Keep’ by Tamsin Mori are not available yet, but if you know the right people..!

Well known and much loved as the illustrator of the incredibly popular ‘Horrible Histories’ series, Martin Brown was our first speaker of the day. He had the audience completely enthralled as he talked his books and about the importance of drawing and teaching people the skills they need. He firmly believes that everyone has the ability to draw and his inspiring enthusiasm was infectious.

On arrival, everyone had been given a pink raffle ticket and there was a great ‘oooh’ of excitement as we announced that the winning number would receive this lovely picture (above) of Cave Bear which Martin signed and dedicated.

During the tea break, plenty of cake and biscuits were available and it was wonderful to see so many people getting their books signed and chatting to old friends and new. If any evidence was ever needed about how supportive the children’s book community is then the number of authors who attended our launch surely proves it. Anthony Burt, J M Joseph, Shauna Darling Robertson, Tamsin Mori, Rachel Delahaye, Emma Perry, Andy Seed, Anne Parsons, Laura Mucha and Cathy Faulkner plus a couple of authors who are not-yet-to-be-named all came along to offer their support as did Roy Johnson of Troika Books. Our lucky attendees were able to chat to these lovely people and get their books signed.

After the break, Fleur Hitchcock told a captivated audience about her childhood and other inspirations for writing, including a mysterious abandoned cabinet and a visit to Longleat. It was fascinating to hear about everything from the cover designs to the edits and alterations which contribute to the magic of creating a book. There were so many questions..!

Our event closed with a selection of poems performed by the joyful and exuberant Laura Mucha whose energy and enthusiasm had everyone joining in. It was the perfect way to close the perfect session.

Thank you so much to everyone who came and helped to make our launch so special. We look forward to holding more events very soon and hope to welcome many new members to the group. If you are interested in finding out more about membership, please email us somersetcbg@gmail.com