A popular children's author made the 9,000-mile trip to visit a primary school in Harrogate yesterday (Thursday).
Leigh Hobbs is best known for his stories featuring characters Old Tom, Horrible Harriet, Fiona the Pig, Mr Badger and Mr Chicken.
From the heart of Williamstown, the best-selling author and illustrator made the trip to visit pupils at Brackenfield Primary School, who are a big fan of his work.
He conducted drawing, illustrating and character creating sessions with Brackenfield children from Reception to Year 6.
He taught them how to draw some of his most famous characters such as Mr Chicken and Old Tom, and shared stories about his creative process and the inspirations behind his characters.
Leigh emphasised that everyone’s drawings will be different from each other, and like in life, we are all different with our own strengths.
Children were not allowed to use rubbers and were encouraged to explore their own creativity when designing their characters.
Leigh also led a session for the junior pupils on creating and developing their own character in words as well as pictures.
French teacher Suzanne Ridings said:
“I first made contact with Leigh during lockdown - I wanted to really engage pupils in remote learning whilst having fun.
“The whole school loved Mr Chicken at this point as they enjoyed hearing me read the story "Mr Chicken goes to Paris" to them in French lessons.
“To enthuse the children more and to stimulate their learning during the difficult lockdown period, I decided to make an online escape game featuring Monsieur Poulet for our pupils.”
Suzanne added:
“Leigh was so appreciative of his work being used to help pupils on the other side of the world with their learning that he did not hesitate to allow me to use his character.
“From then on, we have struck up a long-distance friendship and Leigh has tried for a few years to work in a visit to our school.
“He has sent us paintings, copies of his books and signed posters from his home in Australia.
“He really is a most generous and kind person as well as the most wonderfully witty author and illustrator.
“We are incredibly grateful to Leigh; he is on a personal holiday to the UK and, again, is giving up his private time when not working to come and see us and we will cherish his visit for many years to come.”
Headmaster, Mr Masterson said:
“We are just so fortunate to have such a great relationship with Leigh Hobbs through our amazing French teacher Madame Ridings.
“Leigh is a special person with a great talent for inspiring children and teachers alike to have fun, be creative and achieve more than you thought you could.”
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