An animated video of a poem taken from Oliver Sykes’ debut children’s poetry collection.
READ MORE
Paper Boy is an animated video of a poem taken from Oliver Sykes’ debut children’s poetry collection, We Are Family: Six Kids and a Super-Dad, which tells the story of Oliver’s real-life childhood with five siblings and their amazing single dad.
Written and performed by Oliver Sykes
Animated and created by Rebecca Horswill
Sound design and music by Charlotte Proctor
This project was commissioned by Your Story, and supported by:
Partners: Your Story, Otter-Barry Books, Trafford Libraries, Oldham Libraries, Touchstones Rochdale, Arts Council England
Alfie and the Thief
Alfie and the Thief is the second children’s novella in The Adventures of Alfie Shields Collection, a four-part children’s fiction series.
READ MORE
In 2022, Oliver’s debut children’s novella, Alfie’s First Fight, was voted for by children to win Best Illustrated Young Reader at the 2023 Children’s Literature Festivals’ Book Awards. Inspired by Oliver’s own experiences growing up without a mum and being coached as an amateur boxer by his dad, Alfie’s First Fight centres itself around shy twelve-year-old Alfie as he decides to go in search of his missing older brother, Jacob, moments before an all-important boxing match.
The second novella is set a few weeks after Alfie’s big win in the ring. Despite winning, Alfie’s nights have been haunted by ‘the posh man’ who has promised to even the score against Alfie’s family. With such a vile and vengeful enemy, Alfie knows he must stay close to his family and watch his back. But when Alfie’s dad and his big brother go to Box-a-mania without him, bad things start to happen and Alfie soon realizes that he can’t save the day alone…
Partners: Your Story, MMU, Arts Council England
Story Club
In 2023, Your Story began working with Denbigh Library to ascertain how an ongoing Saturday morning session would best serve the local community.
READ MORE
Following a period of community consultation, Your Story secured funding from The National Lottery’s Community Fund to deliver a community-led monthly bilingual free-to-attend children’s story group.
Working with local schools, we recruited a young steering group who have helped us and continue to help us to design and deliver our programme of activities.
Through sessions with creative storytelling, games, and discussion, we support children to have fun through story, to discover the joys of their local library, and to make friends with children they might not otherwise meet.
The year-long Story Club pilot project finished in May 2025. Your Story is currently working to bring the project back soon, making it bigger and better. You can read the 2024-25 Project Evaluation here.
Partners: Your Story, Denbigh Library, Ysgol Pendref, Ysgol Twm o’r Nant, Ysgol Frongoch, Y Tŷ Gwyrdd and The National Lottery Community Fund.
