We turn 25 this week, a milestone that’s left me feeling deeply grateful and a little humbled. What better way to celebrate than by being part of Through The Shop Window, a beautiful event hosted by the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust which runs up until December 21st. With rehearsals for Captain Sprout and the Christmas Pirates in full swing, I put together a simple drop-in activity for the evening, something honest and hands-on. Anyone who wandered in was invited to pick up a luggage label, decorate it with stickers, stamps, little doodles… and then write down a Christmas wish. Each wish was tied to our puppet Pete, and if your message sparked something in him, he’d slowly open his sleepy eyes as a tiny nod of recognition.

Those two hours were unexpectedly moving. People paused. Families gathered and the small chocolate shop at the top of the slopes (Hot Chocolaterie) seemed to glow a little brighter, warmed by creativity, conversation, and the gentle feeling of community that only appears when people gather and make something together.

A Weekend Of Big Ideas

We had a brilliant weekend in London at The National Theatre at the end of last month exploring the play “The Animals” with it’s writer Sean Buckley. It was great to get the chance to discuss themes and feel inspired amongst other creatives. We are looking forward to putting into practise all the things we learnt from this weekend with our Senior Rec group. The performances are a bit of a way off yet (not until next year) but when you only meet for about 2 hours a week you need to start early in order to unpick the script and it’s characters.