Our Tower

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Drawn from Coelho’s own experience growing up in a high-rise, this is a celebration and reclaiming of them as places full of power and magic. BPT Capital Works Director Simon Butler said “We are delighted to welcome Thomas Ford & Partners and Stenning & Co to the project. Both bring huge conservation experience to this nationally important building, and we look forward to securing an exciting new future for this Bath landmark.” Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.

It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Whilst we have achieved our fundraising target, ongoing donations will increase the amount of work we can do, support a programme of activity beyond the project and ensure the resilience of our organisation. Illustrated in an atmospheric monochrome that gives way to a jewel-bright palette later in the book, Our Tower tells the story of three children who discover a secret world inside a tree, where they meet an ancient entity wielding a power capable of changing everything.

Sausages!

Securing the Design team is just the start of this project, with urgent fundraising now needed to ensure vital conservation work to the building and landscape takes place, to ensure today’s visitors and future generations can continue to explore and enjoy this iconic Bath landmark.

This is a three-week Writing Root for Our Towerby Joseph Coelho and Richard Johnson. The sequence of learning begins with a walk to the local park. Children will be sound collectors and record all the interesting sounds they hear on their way to and in the park. They will go on to analyse the language and word choices used in the text as well as discussing the illustrations. To create their own descriptions and poems, children will use Joseph Coelho’s word choices and phrases to inspire their own writing. They will go on to practise key narrative skills such as creating dialogue, using conjunctions, prepositions and adverbs to build cohesion in their writing. Finally, children use the narrative structure of this poem to create their own fantasy narrative, using a circular planning format. Synopsis of Text: Richard Johnson has created moments of real magic and wonder with his atmospheric illustrations in blue, green, brown, and grey hues highlighting the transitions between the urban, fantastic and natural environments. The imagery has been cleverly displayed as full spreads alongside vignettes with scenes intertwined with the text giving this book a unique contemporary feel. Note must also be paid to the incredible behind the scenes research work carried out to make the illustrations as authentic as possible, Richard ensured that architectural details were as accurate as possible as were references to specific architectural details, and public statues mentioned in Joseph’s story making this an unforgettable cinematic reading experience. Working closely at all stages of the book, when he saw Richard's roughs Joseph said... Stenning & Co – who are located in Bath – are led by Quantity Surveyor Adrian Stenning. Experts and specialists in building conservation work, Adrian has worked extensively with organisations including the Landmark Trust and the National Trust. Mae tri phlentyn sy'n byw mewn tŵr llwyd uchel yn clywed cân coeden yn galw arnyn nhw. Maen nhw'n cropian allan o'r tŵr, heibio i'r ceir a'r polion lampau, i'r goedwig sy'n ffinio â'r stad. Yno, mewn coeden, maen nhw'n cyfarfod â dyn wedi tyfu mewn coeden sy'n rhoi carreg hud iddyn nhw. Trwy'r twll yn y garreg maen nhw'n gweld eu tŵr mewn gwedd newydd. Yn lle ffenestri, mae llygaid cariadus, ceg ydy'r lifft ac eiliau ydy'r balconïau.The Tower project is made possible with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with thanks to National Lottery Players. With thanks also to Historic Houses Foundation, Art Fund Support, Garfield Weston, Historic England, Leche Trust, Pilgrim Trust, and SWMDP. But their real discovery is the gift of the old man of the tree which enables them to see that magic exists in the real world too, when we do not forget our connections to nature and can see and appreciate the beauty of community. We are thrilled to be working in partnership with the team at Discoverin Stratford London, who are the perfect venue for the launch of this book. They are hosting an amazing interactive event with Richard and Joseph as well as showcasing of some of his incredible illustrations from the book in the Discover Café. You can find out more about this special event HERE . Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. The story follows three children who leave their grey dismal tower in search of the marvellous green tree they can see from their windows. As they move through the wood gradually more colour seeps into the images and when they find their tree and discover an entrance to a magical underground world the palette changes entirely to magical purples and blues and the lovely lyrical text becomes joyously rhyming too.

Finding the tree they have longed to see reveals a secret world of magic. Tumbling deep inside, they find “a world deeper than anything Our Tower has ever seen.” But the most significant discovery is the tree-grown man living within, who opens their eyes to the true magic. With his words, the children see that magic is everywhere, including in their tower. A tower full of love and community.Adults have forgotten the wonder in the everyday, but these children see that there is power in the smiles of their neighbours and magic in the kindness of others. There is a beauty to the community of their Tower. After speaking with Joseph about the adventures he had growing up in Roehampton, near Richmond Park, I did some visual research into the area and Joseph sent me some photographs. I really wanted to try and create a visual adventure that would complement Joseph’s poem, blending the mundane, the dark and dangerous with the fantastic and celebratory. Visual research is really important to undertake in any project, especially for ‘Our Tower’, and the methods change from project to project. I think a lot of Joseph’s work is autobiographical, so it was important to me that I got a sense of Joseph’s personal story in the imagery. Whilst some of the details had to become lost in the finished artwork—for commercial purposes—I hope the essence of some of that initial research influenced the entire project. I also recorded myself reading the story and went for a long walk into the countryside. As I listened to the words on repeat, I used the countryside to inspire visual stories for the semi-imaginary underground world where the children play. I only started to draw when I got home." What creatures can the kids find lurking in their garden or on a walk with their family? Print out the sheet above, and get them to take it on a bug hunt with them. How many of them can they spot? When they go out next time, can they spot more, or less? Richard put a huge amount of effort into researching the imagery mentioned in the poem and recreating it in the illustrations, we asked him about his researchprocess and how it works differently on different projects. Gorgeously illustrated by Richard Johnson, this picture book is a love letter to high-rise living and its connection to the ancient, natural world. * The Sunday Post *

This magical story, written by influential and award-winning children’s author and poet Joseph Coelho, will show children how to appreciate the things they have. The poetic narrative accompanied by enchanting illustrations will draw children into a fantastical world and provide a springboard for their own lyrical writing. Touching on themes of conservation and nature, links can also be drawn with geography and science and the book will act as a portal into the poetical world of this significant author. Links and themes: Wedi'i ysgrifennu mewn sigl odledig telynegol, mae hwn yn ddathliad o bawb sy'n byw mewn blociau o fflatiau ac ar stadau. A deeply personal story written by the award-winning poet Joseph Coelho, drawn from his own experience growing up in a high-rise and looking for adventure.

From award-winning children’s poet Joseph Coelho comes this enchanting story of three kids looking for adventure in their building. This month, we are adding something AWESOME to the club for every single person we can within the club (based in the UK). Our Tower is about togetherness and kindness within the community. Why not get the kids to write a story about when someone has been kind to you or your family?