At the beginning of the summer Jan went to Birmingham to the Canal & River Trust offices to meet with Emily from Explorers. With Phillipa and Rachel they chose the school to win the Corridor For Nature competition. She can’t say yet which school won but she had a lovely time looking at all of the wonderful entries.
I wish I could have gone too but she says next time I am invited when the school that has won will show the wonderful canal inspired habitat that has been built from their winning design. I can’t wait!
We decided to go chugging for a few days and went to Foxton locks and then into a town called Market Harborough. (I did this same trip in Book 2 The Hero, chapter 4.)
We even saw a boat named Paddington Bear! My favourite character ever!
We met some lovely people who’d also had a dog called Chico, but he had sadly recently died, so they made a big fuss of me. Which was lovely! The ladies name was also Jan, which Jan thought was amazing.
Some lovely children helped Mike open and close all the lock gates and there were lots of them too!!!
For the rest of the summer I’ve been very lazy, mostly sitting out in the sunshine next to the boat or snuggled on the sofa while Jan’s been writing, but we have had some visitors.
First we had Raewyn who came all the way from NewZealand and we had a BBQ. I kept an eye on the sausages!
Then we had some visitors from Canada, this time I kept an eye on the cakes!
I love it when we have visitors because it means food!
I hope you are all having a good summer too…now I wonder who’s coming to visit next?
Big woofs Chico.
Supporting National Writing Day. #NationalWritingDay
Thirteen schools!
Wow Jan has been busy.
Here are the photos of the last 3 schools Jan visited this week.
Allesley Primary in Coventry celebrated National Writing Day last week and the whole school had written stories together in the hall. That must have been amazing!
The children asked some amazing questions and enjoyed hearing all about how Jan gets her creative ideas for her stories about me. I think I may often help with that as I somehow always manage to get myself into mischief!
St Lawrence Primary at Napton is a lovely village school and the staff, children and parents made Jan and Mike very welcome.
The children asked lots of very interesting questions and Jan was thrilled that they wanted to know so much about her journey from writing books to writing a TV series.
The very last school was St Anthony’s Primary School and they made us very welcome.
I went too but Mike wouldn’t let me go into school because in the morning I’d rolled in some delicious fox poo and he said I smelt horrible, in fact his exact words were “Phew you really stink Chico!” What a cheek! I thought I smelt lovely.
Anyway the children loved my stories and all gave me a wave when they went past the car on their way home.
Thanks to everyone who supported National Writing Day and Janet on this book tour, we have had lots of fun and Jan and Mike have loved meeting the thousands of children they have seen over the past month.
Jan would finally like to say to all the children out there:
“Find something that you are excited about and get writing! Remember the 3 rules:
Finally have fun and enjoy writing!”
Hope you had fun seeing all the schools we have visited and
Get Writing!
Big woofs
Chico Chugg
What a lovely week Jan’s had with her book tour supporting National Writing Day. #NationalWritingDay #TellYourStory
Here are some photos of all the schools she visited.
On week 2 Jan only did one assembly at Guilsborough Primary.
The children listened well and the staff made Jan and Mike very welcome.
Week 3: On Monday Jan went back to a school that she taught in many years ago called St Nicholas Primary in Kenilworth.
All the staff, children and parents welcomed her back and she had a lovely assembly with lots of children telling her they were going to start writing stories.
One little boy said, ” At home I’m going to make a little book called ‘Benny the Beagles adventures round the world’ and it’s about this dog called Benny traveling around the world in a little boat. I just decided to do this today because I’ve been inspired by you.” Janet was thrilled.
On Tuesday Jan was at Chilcote Primary in Birmingham.
It was a very big school with over 480 children and Jan said they were all brilliant and asked some really interesting questions.
One little boy even gave Jan a story he had written, here it is isn’t it great?!!
NATIONAL WRITING DAY 21st June: On Wednesday Jan went to Hanslope Primary and Mike brought me along too! It was so exciting to actually be there with them. It was the hottest day in the heat wave we’ve been having, but I sat very quietly next to Mike. Half way through a kind teacher took me out for a walk around the school field.
The children asked some amazing questions and were really interested in learning about how Jan does her writing.
One child said:” I’ve learned that you’re never too old or too young to start writing.”
Jan even got a little girl to stand out the front because her dog Jasper won the summer picnic competition. I can’t wait until we make the film in July!
Thursday: Jan said they had a wonderful assembly at Dunchurch Junior School.
The staff and parents were really friendly and the children were very excited about reading her books. Some children already had my first book so wanted the next ones.
Friday: Phew what a busy week!
Finally Jan went to Yelvertoft Primary School. One of her books is called Chico Chugg moves to Yelvertoft so the children were very excited when Jan read a bit from one of it’s chapters.
Lots of children got very excited about writing their own stories and one little boy even gave Jan a story for me. Isn’t it good?!
What a great way to end a busy week!
Don’t forget to go to my facebook page to see more about Jan’s book tour and read what parents and children are saying! facebook
Only 3 schools next week, lets hope the weather is not quite so hot!
Big woofs, Chico.
Jan has been supporting National Writers day this week when she started her Writer’s Dozen book tour.
#NationalWritingDay #TellYourStory
She went to four schools in the Midlands inspiring children to be more creative with their writing.
Here are some photos of the schools she visited.
Park Hill Junior school in Kenilworth was the first school.
The children were very excited about her visit and the staff, children and parents made her feel very welcome.
The children joined in well and said they would use her tips and ideas in their creative writing.
Next she was at our local village school, Crick Primary.
The children were very excited to see that her stories are all about Crick.
They remembered when we filmed an episode for my second TV series at the Scarecrow Festival and were thrilled that they could now go and watch it on Sky Kids and Now TV.
Some of them said they were going to write some creative stories about their pets, I can’t wait to read them!
On Thursday she went to Earlsdon primary School in Coventry
The children loved hearing about her journey from writing her first book to today with 6 books in one series, 5 in another and 2TV series.
She explained how it all started by planning her first book and the children were very excited to go off and start planning their own stories.
One little girl even showed her two books that she had written and Jan said they were amazing!
On Friday Jan went to Bilton Junior school in Rugby.
A lot of children had already heard about me and my stories.
After her assembly one boy from year 6 came up to Jan and said he was going to start writing now. I hope he sends the story for me to read!
She said the children were so well behaved and asked some really interesting questions at the end.
Jan was thrilled that the 3 actresses who star with me in my TV episodes go to Bilton Junior School and she brought them out to the front of the school so everyone could give them a clap for all their hard work!
Thanks girls I love working with you, you are all real stars!!
Well, next week we have only one school to visit so I will probably write all about that the following week when Jan is visiting 5 schools.
On the big day for National Writing day, June 21st, she will be at Hanslope Primary School in Milton Keynes, I’m going too I can’t wait!!
Phew I think she’ll be a bit tired by the end of that week!
Speak soon, big woofs, Chico. xx
I was so excited when Jan and Mike got home last night because they brought with them a wonderful trophy they had won, with Anita, for Chugg Productions, best small business of the year from the Pride of Rugby awards.
Here are some photos of the night. Of course I couldn’t go but they took my stunt double and he even went up on stage with them to collect the award!
The award was presented by Dave Sharpe. I think Mike may have made a funny speech by the look on Anita’s face!
Here’s my stunt double having a lovely time. What a beautiful trophy! Now I wonder where we could put it?
I’m so excited about my new competition where a dog in your family could win the chance to be with me in a mini movie.
To enter upload your videos either to my Facebook competition post or by direct message to @chicochugg on Twitter.
Here are the terms and conditions:
Chico Chugg Summer Picnic Competition Terms and Conditions:
Many thanks to Mrs Lawrence for inviting us to come to see Reception and Year 1 to tell them what it’s like living on a narrow boat.
The staff, children and parents made us feel so welcome and the children were brilliant at listening and joining in.
Jan said we’ll go back in June when she does her next big book tour for National Writing Day, I can’t wait!
See you soon everyone, big woofs, Chico.
Janet showed a power point showing what it’s like living on a boat and chugging around the canals.
I went in to say ‘Hi’ to all the children.
The children had a game of tug of war with Wah Wah Chugg’s rope!
Mike finished the morning by seeing who could shout my name the loudest into the microphone that made everything sound echoey, it sounded just like we were in a tunnel!
Many thanks to Mrs Ray for inviting us to St Lukes and Betley C of E Primary Schools today.
All the staff and children made us so welcome. They even waited for our visit to dress up for World Book Day so we could see their wonderful costumes.
Jan had a lovely time doing her literacy assemblies and said you were all amazing! You all joined in fantastically with the activities, listened beautifully and asked some really interesting questions.
I also loved coming in to meet all of you and you were so quiet that I wasn’t scared at all!
Don’t forget to keep writing and send me some letters or stories.
Big woofs, Chico Chugg.
Many thanks to all the schools that invited Jan to do her Literacy assembly during World Book Week.
Big woofs, Chico.
Jan has asked me to say many thanks to Clapham Terrace Primary School and Curdworth Primary School for inviting her to do assemblies this week.
Everyone, staff, children and parents were so friendly and welcoming and she had a lovely time.
I’ve told her I want to come next time! I hope she lets me.
Here are a few photos.
Big woofs, Chico.
Curdworth Primary were fantastic. Jan said it had rained all day and the children had not been out to play but they were so well behaved , listened well and asked some wonderful questions about her writing.
We went to Clapham Terrace on World Book Day and the children were all dressed up as their favourite characters, they looked fantastic!
I went into the year 1 class with Janet as the children have been reading my first book. They behaved beautifully and I wasn’t scared at all.
I can’t wait for World Book week next year Jan has promised I can go too!
Thanks everyone for your warm welcomes and support!
Big woofs, Chico.
