And annually, many visiting students from around the World help us to grow the HoBB Project House into an ever better place of useful action.

By keeping this balance of helping and being-helped, we make happy progress. We never know or pre-judge what project is around the next corner so it could be your project.

If your project is yet to start, some way along its progress, or even on-hold, you may need some space to do some fresh thinking on it. You can find this at the HoBB Project House by ‘dropping-in’ for a cuppa and a chat or by taking a break for a couple of days to concentrate on your Project, away from the distractions of regular home-work-life.

Whatever stage your Project has reached, you will find it of interest to receive new input, new ideas and new insights. We’re great at providing all three and more. [We are always happy to sign any non-disclosure form you may wish to use. You can print off our form for FREE.]

There are several Project Houses in the World but nearly all of them are linked to large city companies and therefore, situated in large cities.

Our Project House, The HoBB, is hidden away in peaceful, beautiful countryside where time ‘stops’ long enough to allow your project to surface fully, without distraction – well OK, we’ve just got a new puppy dog who may demand a stick to be thrown if you happen to be in the garden.

So when you need a break and really want to concentrate on your Project away from the distractions of everyday life, come to The HoBB, a traditional stone farmhouse with open fires and a host of fresh country creature comforts – a very green location for your ever greener shoots to grow.

Contact me - let’s:

* compare diaries
* book a time and date and
* get ready for your first cuppa and think-over.

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : 2012-01-08T14:03:39Z 2012-01-08T14:03:39+00:00 tag:,2012:/1.251 2012-01-08T14:03:39Z

grant beinglive@thehobb.tv Projects and Ideas

Everything needs doing by somebody.

Some people achieve a lot on their own but most of us like to tackle projects with partners – as part of a strong enthusiastic team.

If you are a team member without a team, it’s time to get one started. At the HoBB Project House we ‘Goal Share’ to create teams.

‘Goal Share’ is where we progress-chase you on your project and you, in return, progress-chase us on one of ours. This way you get an instant ‘bolt-on’ team, and so do we. If you are not so wonderful on progress chasing, you can pick a weekend to visit the HoBB and together, we’ll plan the stage progress of your project whether it is at its starting post or part progressed.

All ‘Goal Share’ input and ideas are yours for you to keep and use with no ties.

There are several other ways to find team members online and offline – all require networking with your plans and ideas. You can network to get support for your project on free sites first, like gumtree and craigslist.

New Projects are in demand – there’s a lot to build and re-build so that the future becomes brighter for all.

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : 2012-01-01T23:05:05Z 2012-01-01T23:05:05+00:00 tag:,2012:/1.230 2012-01-01T23:05:05Z

grant beinglive@thehobb.tv We Write

(Above Webpage Source : littlepeoplebooks.co.uk)

I figure this adaptation of Cinderella is the first in the World to include raised fonts (Braille and Moon) and raised image outlines so as to help blind parents teach their sighted children to read.

Pete Stonehouse at Acuitydesign.eu is presently looking into some new ways these double braille books can be produced - doubly useful because they use both Braille and Moon (fonts).

We have looked at producing both raised fonts using thermography, but so far, this printing technique cannot achieve a sufficiently high-off-the-page level for use by those who are blind.

The production method we now need to find must make it possible to outline the illustration as well as both fonts. Regular braille printers cannot achieve this.

Please contact me if you have any thoughts that may help this useful teaching development.

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We Write

]]>

Why do we write and tell stories?

The following words from ‘The Art of the Storyteller’ by Beverley Mathias, say it all:

“Storytellers are the direct medium between the story and the audience, able to change pace, alter or explain a difficult point, dramatize or play down an event, according to the needs of those listening.

We tell stories …

• To help children to learn, to listen.
  
• To enlarge the listener’s vocabulary.
  
• To extend a child’s knowledge of the worlds of fact and fantasy.
  
• To stimulate the listener’s imagination.
  
• To create an appetite for words.
  
• To introduce the shared activity of storytelling – from author or teller to audience”.
  

If you share some or all of the above aims, make contact so we can grow the storytelling tradition together.

Our stories ‘travel’ as written texts, oral tales and picture books and we welcome all new opportunities to author, illustrate and tell stories at formal events and informal get-togethers. Let me know about your intended audience - their likely age, interests and listening experience.

Links:
BookBod Storytelling – Transporting the listener into the World of Water
Whose Book Is It Anyway Storytelling

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We write - we Storytell

LPB (Little People Books) has one priority, to explore this new world and, in the words of children's book author Rebecca Davies, keep it "full of new pirates and dragons, new dinosaurs and time machines, new aliens and regular kids in extraordinary situations."

Under construction (as I type) is a new, and obviously very secret, den for digital storytellers. These tale spinners are working hard and subjecting themselves to all manner of magical myth and fable, to create a collection of ebooks for you to chop, change, juggle, share, adapt and enjoy TO THE FULL.

This blog - this very page, will bring you the news as it grows. In the meantime, visit Blu for a fun alternative view.

Posted by: Grant
Filed in: We Write - we Storytell

Whose Book Is It Anyway?

Above the sea
Will’s fish sleep.
They do not snore
Or make a peep.

Above the sea
Will’s fish lie.
They do not move
I think they’ll die.

Will just smiles,
I think he’s chuffed.
His fish smile too,
I think they’re stuffed.

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

Ted bumps his head on street lights
When he flies too high.

He’ll bump his head on taller things
Higher in the sky.

He’ll bump his head into the moon
And if he goes too far,
He’ll bump his head on Jupiter
And maybe on a star.

Illustration : Ollie Tomlinson
Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We Write

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

Petra’s spraying flowers again
She even sprays the moss.
She sprays the insects and the trees,
I bet that makes them cross.

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

Grant supports Third Sector design projects that, by fate of time, or place, or circumstance, connect with him. Grant also provides help to individuals who care for the overall wellbeing of the planet.

For information about Grant’s services, including how to set up a meeting to discuss your design needs, please contact him directly at the HoBB Project House and Gardens

A snapshot of Grant’s recent Design Projects includes:

• A ‘living outdoor schoolroom’ - growing each year for a Community Trust
  
• Two wooden (DL Size) leaflet holders and card design option.
  
• Books for children - designed and illustrated to improve very early reading skills
  
• Fundraising Web site – to save and relocate a hermitage
  
• Carnival procession hats
  
• Mascot costume for use in school and community storytellings
  
• Site interpretation board for community land
  
• Gate-fold leaflets to gain support and raise funds
  
• Interpretation stories – written and performed to promote community allotments
  
• A regional career and job-seekers plan
  
• Community group event posters
  
• Messaging system – designed to bring online and offline networking together
  

Links:
Visit the section of this site devoted to our designs, or select "We Design" in the menu (Top Right hand side) or type Design in search box (above right).

________

(Filed in We Produce

If you are still wondering exactly how to go about it, read sites such as WordPress, Moveable Type or go to authorselectric.co.uk - a self-help group of authors helping each other into epublishing.

I'm always learning more about publishing but ever happy to share what I know from my background.

B.I.G. Background Info.

Once upon a time …
A useful self-help group of photographers and illustrators was born, called the Birmingham Image Group. Everyone in the group was keen to get into publishing and be published.

For many years, monthly meetings were in Birmingham (UK) pubs, members’ homes, wine bars and restaurants. These were well attended. As membership grew to include graphic designers, calligraphers, model-makers, cartoonists, architectural delineators, fine artists and sculptors, the group changed its name to B.I.G. (British Image Group).

Sadly, the Group’s founder, the late great Jonathan Inglis, was hit by a bus outside the Custard Factory (Birmingham) and died. The enthusiasm to continue meetings dropped suddenly. Many of the members, including myself, moved away from the Midlands - just a few members kept in touch.

B.I.G. could have fizzled out or ended there, but the Group’s web site continued to attract enquiries and assist others keen on publishing and being published. It was hosted by the now defunct geocities for a while but it needs a good rebirthing. So if you are interested, can put together a great web site and are keen on getting involved with quality creatives, contact me and let's stretch w3 or maybe launch w4/ w5 ...

Posted by : Grant
Filed in : 2010-11-11T21:21:45Z 2010-11-11T21:21:45+00:00 tag:,2010:/1.242 2010-11-11T21:21:45Z

grant beinglive@thehobb.tv We Write BRENDA

Auntie Brenda makes a noise
and puts it on CD.

Auntie Brenda gets awards,
I’ve seen her on TV.

Auntie Brenda likes herself
and fancy cakes, with tea.

I hope when Auntie visits us
she doesn’t fancy me.

---

Illustration : Ollie Tomlinson
Posted by : Grant
Filed in : We Write

(c) 1996, 2010 World of Water (Reg. Charity 327188)

]]>

The Welsh countryside is lush with verdant vistas where nights are as silent as the beginning of Time and days were quiet enough to hear bumblebees suckling the nectar of a bloom.

By the border of England and Mid-Wales, tucked in a cosy nook behind a maze of single-track lanes, lay the HoBB. It was a place that became my refuge for a short moment in time, a sanctuary from the crowds, noise, and technology that afflict urbanites like myself. I came with no expectations save to do a bit of gardening, construction work, and the usual fare that comes with WWOOF-ing. And that I did.

Each day presented a new challenge for this city journalist who has barely swung a hammer in her life and who lacks the practicality to deal with any more tools than a pen and paper.

Home to Grant and Helen - never a warmer or more genuine couple will you find - the HoBB provided a space for an individual to find their creative self and discover ways they can etch their own contribution to the world.

These discoveries do not come by chance. Nor do they appear simply by showing up at the gates of the HoBB*. They were spurred on by my hosts, Grant and Helen. He, a constant energetic ball of sparks and popping champagne fizz, while she is of the effervescent laugh and homecooked delicacies. With their background as designers, they have a discerning eye, an unrivalled vocabulary of hues and whimsical natures, yet grounded by their strong connection with and respect for the earth.
[*You have to book your time at the HoBB in advance - They do not accept casual visitors.]

The HoBB is a place of creativity and collaboration between the hosts and their WWOOF-ers. Examples of both abound, from the rustic doggie gate I helped finish, that was started by a Spanish volunteer called Sergio, to the home-made bread that we devoured heartily for lunch, from the stone forge that was a feature of the HoBB gardens to the miniature elf houses created out of pebbles, twigs, and empty almond shells.

Grant did not waste a single minute. I was shown the best way to handle and use almost every tool in the garden shed. Learning new things was not always a lengthy procedure. There were tasting sessions, such as the 5 minutes spent learning how to use a lawnmower or the one chainsaw blade I sharpened.

Enlightenment was not reserved for the physical either. I discovered which shade of a Welsh sunset was pale puce and that the intention behind every thing we create as humans, even making something as commonplace as coffee or tea for another person, can make all the difference in the outcome and the product.

Each day, I awoke to new challenges, both physical and mental. Out in the field, I found my mind sluggish. After years of using the mental muscle, flexing the physical and understanding the practicalities of nature and physics did not come naturally to me. My attempts at carpentry and woodwork led to a broken gate hinge, a bent drill bit and many a nail hammered in the most unusual angles. But thanks to Grant's watchful eye and guidance, I was left relatively unscathed by the end of my sojourn, save for a random wasp sting.

Evenings at the HoBB were a return to old-fashioned homeliness, reminiscent of the days where families still sat around the fireplace, put on their favourite raspy vinyl, and talked with each other. Supper was a home-cooked meal that Helen lovingly slaved over all afternoon while battling wasps in her sunlit kitchen. I recall one evening, after dining to the zestful strains of Bohemian Rhapsody, we supplied our own entertainment by bursting into song, belting out the hits from My Fair Lady. And another, playing a vinyl LP of The City Waites playing Medieval Pub songs - after hearing the band live in concert playing on Medieval instruments in Ludlow.

In the era of technology and television, it seemed other-worldly but there we were, connecting with each other as human beings and not as humans to a machine as is now the norm. What was the norm at the HoBB was laughter. It was akin to being a child again where days were carefree and cheeky giggles ubiquitous.

Time slowed down at the HoBB. But I did not perceive slowing down as a sin as I would have in the city. I allowed myself to slow down and to literally smell the roses. I could walk leisurely enough to spot a snail in my path and put it out of harm's way or stick my head up in the highest branches of a tree and see the world from the perspective of a pigeon or dove or owl. I could laze and think about what lay in the thoughts of sheep as they bleated and grazed in the nearby field.

There was no pressure from anyone to quicken the pace. All I received from my hosts was patience and an openness and acceptance I find myself wishing every child can receive from their parents or mentors. If a child were a flower, they would bloom at the HoBB.

So as my train chugged back to London and I left my hosts on the platform, I did not feel sad. I felt grateful. Grateful to have met Grant and Helen, for them to have opened their heart and home to me, and imparted their nuggets of wisdom for me to pocket on the rest of my life's journey.

My momentous moments at the HoBB ...