Monday 14 November 2011

Book Review by Paul Tobin

Many thanks to Paul Tobin, poet and author, who has written a review of Under The Foutain in his Blog "Magpie Bridge."



Monday, 31 October 2011

UNDER THE FOUNTAIN

I wanted to share with you an interesting book I happened to come across recently. It’s called Under the Fountain and it is written by Kathy Lovell and charmingly illustrated by Jane Meech. Essentially it is the story of two boys, Jake and George, who discover under the fountain in their local swimming pool a secret passage to the a sea cave where they meet two seals. Later in the story they are able to rescue the seals and save their lives. There is also a second plot that describes Jake’s treatment for leukaemia.
Why did it capture my imagination? Well for two reasons, basically it is a page turner; once I started I wanted to know what happens to the characters. Secondly, in a past life I was a social worker, and books like this are immeasurably useful for helping children make sense of their illness and the treatment process. When I was working for Social Services it was almost impossible to find books that related to the situations people found themselves in, and a book like this is very welcome.
I must just say a word about the illustrations, I think that Jane Meech has captured both the children and the seals. The artwork is excellent, as I hope you can see from the examples on this post.









Posted by Paul Tobin at Monday, October 31, 2011 elated to the situations people found themselves in, and a book like this is very welcome.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Offer of a lino cut print for a silent auction at the Tea party





Many thanks to Alison Wilson, artist, who has donated a beautiful lino cut print of two seahorses as a fundraiser for the tea party. For this we are going to do a silent auction as an additional attraction at the event.

Meeting for Tea Party at Orley House, 26th of July. 11

Our committee has now grown to Valerie, Jennie, Anthony, Jean and I. We have made final decisions on who will put up posters and where; where to ask for donations for the raffle, where to get additional crockery and tables and chairs; our menu and press releases. We have had an offer of a classical guitarist, Barrie to play for half an hour and also hope to get a couple of pianists to entertain our guests.

19th of July, 2011 Posters designed for Tea Party at Orley House In aid of Under The Fountain, in support of CLIC-Sargent





Wednesday 13 July 2011

21st of June, 2011 Valerie Daekin offers to host a charity event at Orley House for a garden Tea Party


After meeting with Valerie, who has offered to host a charity event to raise mony for CLIC-Sargent, we have decided to hold a Tea Party on 20th of August, 2-4.30, 2011. We are going to hold a further meeting in 2 weeks time to confirm the details of the event.




23rd of April, Book Signing at Waterstones, Drake Centre, Plymouth








I have to say that I was quite nervous about this, but it turned out to be a really enjoyable day. We gave out the flyer on the book which hopefully raised the profile of Under the Fountain and of CLIC-Sargent and of course helped to sell some books. The staff of Waterstones couldn't have been more welcoming and were on hand to help us set up the display and to see if there was anything else we needed. They like to support local authors.










A number of children in the shop filled in book reviews of Under the Fountain along with drawing their own pictures of seals etc.















It was a great opportunity to meet many interesting people, other authors- one just learning the trade, teachers and a number of people who have had a connection with CLIC-Sargent or other cancer charities.

Many thanks to Michele, Will, Sarah, Pete, Helen, Jennie, Dave and Nick for helping and giving support.

Thursday 21 April 2011

Preparing for book signing at Waterstones, the Drake Centre, Plymouth






Have been working on advertising and sending out editorial on the book signing at Waterstones, the Drake Centre, Plymouth, on Saturday, 23rd of April. Really hoping that there will be a good turn out. Please come along and support CLIC -Sargent. From 11.00 am-3.00 pm.

9th of April, Easter Campaign of Under the Fountain at The Fish Deli, Ashburton

The books and seals went on sale at The Fish Deli in Ashburton at the beginning of their Easter Promotions, 9th April 2011.

8th of April, New Posters for Easter Campaign of Under the Fountain



Nick and Michele have invited us to put together a package of Under the Fountain and a seal for an Easter Promotion for their shop , The Fish Deli, Ashburton, Devon.

The book and seal will be selling at £10.00

20th March, 2011 Yummy Mummy Tea Party a success for CLIC-Sargent
















What a lovely afternoon!! The hall was a picture, a proper village tea party and a good number of the people of St Dominick turned out for the event. Karen and her family raised over £5oo for CLIC-Sargent.







I don't think that I have ever seen so many cakes in one place. The children all seemed to be ejoying the activities provided for them.








The highlight of the afternoon for me was meeting Olivia again, signing her copy

of Under the Fountain and talking to her about some of the experiences that she has had.









Many thanks to Michele for helping me out with the Under the Fountain Stand.

Friday 18 March 2011

Tea Party in aid of CLIC-Sargent at St Dominic Village Hall on March 19, 2010

A parent that I met in Tesco's on a CLIC-Sargent fund raising day is holding a tea party at St Dominic Village Hall. It is part of the Yummy Mummy campaign.
She has invited me to come and sell Under The Fountain. I'm really looking forward to meeting Karen and her family again and meeting some other families who are supported by CLIC-Sargent.
We would love to see any one who can come along. The tiime is from 3-5 this afternoon.




Sunday 6 March 2011

Book Signing and raisng funds for CLIC-Sargent at Bookstop in Tavistock


A sponsor of Under the Fountain gets her copy signed. A big thank you to everyone who helped to make the day a success especially Natasha and Simon from Bookstop.

Under the Fountain Book signing in Tavistock


One of the proof readers gets his copy of Under the Fountain signed by the author.

Sunday 27 February 2011

Feb 25th, 2011, Posters go up in Tavistock for Book signing


We advertise the book signing at Bookstop, Bookshop, Tavistock on March 4th from 10.30 am.

Feb 25th, Hamlet includes an article on Under the Fountain


The local newsletter kindly includes an article to promote Under the Fountain and the book signing at Bookstop in Tavistock on March 4th to raise money for CLIC-Sargent.

February 3rd, article in the Tavistock Times


No it wasn't on the front page - just put the heading on to keep track of when it came out. A nice article though.

January 17th, 2011 Star sales in Kingsbridge

The first person to sell more that 10 copies of "Under the Fountain" is Margaret from Kingsbridge/

Saturday 26 February 2011

Under the Fountain is available to buy from the Internet


With Katie and Nick's combined skills Under the Fountain can now be purchased from the web site www.underthefountain.co.uk on E-bay.

Web site launched -Katie to the Rescue, January 1, 2011


Katie gets the website http://www.underthefountain.co.uk/ up and running.

The New Year starts off with book sales in Kennilworth


December 7, 2010


First sales of the book and the target of raising £5,000 for CLIC-Sargent begins.

Saturday 1 January 2011

7 December, 2010 Launch of book






A celebration of the publication and launch with keen supporters in Totnes.