…Or at least, the schools I visited there certainly welcomed me! 😉

I’m writing this post in a tearing hurry, as I’m about to rush out the door for another event, but before I do here are a couple of pics to give you an idea of how things went yesterday.

After a lovely leisurely breakfast (sausages and mushrooms HURRAH!) it was my great pleasure to speak to some 120 of the students of Marlborough College.

This was a terrific session, with some excellent questions from pupils and staff alike. To my absolute delight, one Marlborough teacher decided on the spot to make The Black Tattoo into a class reader – ie all his students are going to read it, en masse, at once, as a class. AWESOME! If any of those students – and anyone else reading this, for that matter! – happens to have any follow-up questions for me about the book, then do please feel free to write them on one of my websites’ Guestbooks. If the questions are ones I haven’t addressed before (do check the Q&A pages under ‘Who Is…’ first!) then I’ll do my best to answer them, just as soon as I get the chance.

After a quick but delicious lunch (got to say, I’ve fed pretty well these last couple of days, HUR HUR HUR!) I was driven away (at lightning speed!) across the Downs, to my next engagement. First up was a brief chat to twenty extremely enthusiastic Year 6 students from St Margaret’s, Calne. My initial worries that maybe my stories might be a little too scary for such a young audience were quickly proved groundless: when I announced that my next book – the one I’m working on now – is going to be a bit ‘like ALIEN meets NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD – for kids!‘ the whole group actually cheered! HEE HEE HEE! 🙂

The third event of the day was a double length session with 47 Year 7 students from nearby St Mary’s School for Girls, Calne. Here’s a pic of me waving my arms about as usual, apparently completely oblivious of the Imperial Star Destroyer that happened to be flying past overhead…

…OK, I’m kidding! ;p This talk took place in the unusual (for me!) but undoubtedly spectacular surroundings of the St Mary’s school chapel. The session lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. Even I, frankly, have trouble sitting still for that long(!) but the students’ attention was absolutely impeccable throughout, their questions were tremendous, and the time just zipped past. YAY!

My huge and grateful thanks to ninja librarians Lindsey Pilkington (of Marlborough) and Charlotte Smith (of St Marys’), for inviting me along to these three terrific events and looking after me so kindly. My Wiltshire Whirlwind Tour has been an absolute delight, and I look forward to coming back one day very soon.

Right: must dash, got another school to visit. On with the sinister masterplan! Bwha-ha! BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA! 🙂

--------------------------

Comments? Suggestions? Questions? Me and THE WEBSPHINX would love to hear from you! Drop us a line at the Tim, Defender of the Earth Guestbook for current or Tim stuff, or The Black Tattoo Guestbook for Black Tat stuff. First (or demon-!) names only, please. 😉