Update on Fluffville Films!

Things are going well at Fluffville Studios PLC, with lots of young people making new residents of Fluffville - we have a hippopotamus, a crab, a camera-man dog called Stuart, three rabbits, Eddie the Elephant and Gnasher the Crocodile (who drives about in a wind-powered car!)
The Fluffville sign is a facia for the puppet theatre and is made using recycled cardboard and squashed-up loo roll - it's that simple!
Many of the puppets have been made by students with additional support needs and everyone is really enjoying the process of making the film, it's such fun! Stuart ( the real Stuart, not the dog!) and I have also managed to film a piano and tin-whistle recital - using a little toy piano from the 1960's and a papier mache tin whistle! I hope you enjoy these photo's showing some of the puppets, I hope to get some video links up soon too.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Yesterday, we held our first Fluffville Films session! I was working with Stuart from Sharkbait Productions at Maxwelltown High School Learning Centre, where the students started to make twelve new residents of Fluffville, including a crocodile, a hippopotamus and an elephant! The young people are thinking about the script and the energy-saving tips they want their puppets to promote - this is going to be a really cool project! I staggered out of school two hours later, covered in glue (occupational hazard!) but very happy with how things had gone. Off to Stranraer on Thursday for Session Two!

Fluffville Films and Food in Fluffville

Happy New Year! Golly gosh and goodness me! It's been a long time since I wrote anything on my poor little blog - it expect it feels quite abandoned. Since the launch of Fluffville Saves Energy, back in October, life seems to have been a whirlwind of visiting schools, driving up and down the A75, applying for funding for Eco-Schools to continue, worrying about funding and getting some funding...... We also had some terrible weather; freezing conditions and deep snow. I bought a new car from EBay (not a good idea, in hindsight) which then proceeded to break down five times in two weeks! All this must have had a cumulative effect on me, as I got ill on Boxing Day and stayed ill for the next three weeks! It was a flu virus-thing, really nasty and probably came because I stopped working!

Anyway, on to bigger and better things - Tiddles is about to make his debut as a film star! We are due to start working on Fluffville Films in February; I will be working with a professional film-maker and various Secondary Schools to produce a series of short energy-saving puppet shows. Our endeavours will be recorded as a documentary-style film and premiered at our local independent cinema http://www.rbcft.co.uk/ How exciting!

I will also be working on the second book in the Fluffville series, Food in Fluffville, to link with the launch of the new Eco-Schools topic, Food and the Environment. I'm really looking forward to it, as it will have Tiddles and the Bunnies looking at growing their own fruit and veg, making jam, visiting a farm, making monsters out of unwanted food packaging, all sorts of exciting things! (If you are six years old or short and orange!)

So, the year has got off to flying start! Spring won't be long now and planning of trips and things can commence! Watch out for Tiddles in OK Magazine - no doubt he will be negotiating with Dancing on Ice and Strictly Come Dancing before too long! I wonder when I should tell him what my management fee is!

Can anyone write a Tiddles story?

I am really enjoying my job as Eco-Schools Coordinator, but I don't want to give up on my dream of having a Tiddles the Tiger book published. I was chatting to a colleague yesterday, and he suggested I try and find someone who can write a story, and I illustrate it. I thought this was a good idea, and wondered if anyone in Blog Land could, or would write a Tiddles story. If you browse through my blog, you will see what kind of a tiger Tiddles is (small and orange!) and you will also find out about his 'friends', the Stepford Bunnies...... They all live in Fluffville, which is a small town by the sea. So, if anyone feels inspired by this, please get in touch! Here are some sketches of Tiddles on one of his holidays, which I hope you like!

Underground, Overground, Wombling Free!

It has occurred to me, as I get out and about visiting Schools with my Eco Presentations, that all those years ago, when I was a Small Person, the Wombles taught us about 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle', so it's hardly a new thing! The Wombles ( for anyone who doesn't know) are little furry creatures with pointy noses who live on Wimbledon Common. The author Elisabeth Beresford wrote a series of Wombles stories from 1968, and it became a television show in the 1970's - I was a big fan!

'Wombles are organised, work as a team

Wombles are tidy and Wombles are clean

Underground, overground, wombling free

The Wombles of Wimbledon Common are we'.

I was lucky enough to find this Womble (Orinoco) in a junk shop recently. I will have fun using him in my work with the kids, as they will, no doubt, think he is an antique from the past (A bit like me!) Tiddles and the Bunnies are kind of Womble-like, in their own little way too, as Fluffville has recently become carbon neutral!

Bob Goes to the Shop and Fluffy saves the World!

I have had the absolute pleasure of working with 295 Primary School children this week. At the end of my Energy Presentation, I get them to do a little task - here are a couple of cute examples of their 'Energy-Saving' comic strips! I think they are such fun, and wanted to share a couple with you!

Educational Bunny

So it just goes to prove, the Stepford Bunnies have changed their ways and become role models for young minds! Big up those Bunnies!

Tiddles' Presentation

Here are a couple of pics of the presentation I gave yesterday, featuring 'The Wee Striped Wonder' (Thanks, Louciao!) Tiddles the Tiger!