From Workshop to Storybook: Bird Boxes Inspire Young Creators at Leeds Libraries

Early in January, Bob M was approached by Liam Garnett, one of Otley Maker Space members whom Bob had trained on the wood turning lathe. Liam was aware that WMS had made bird nesting boxes and he asked if we could produce a number of our tit boxes for a project being run by Leeds Libraries. He asked though if the boxes could be modified by making the entrance hole larger than normal and to add an additional hole to the side for observation purposes. Bob of course agreed to produce the boxes although did express some curiosity as to the need for additional holes??

Liam explained that the children would furnish the insides of the boxes and the additional hole would allow them to look inside when the roof was re-attached!!

Liam kindly agreed to produce a short write up to explain the activity which is included below:-

“In February, Leeds Libraries in partnership with Wrongsemble and LIVEwire Poetry delivered the annual Leeds Storytelling Festival, a festival that aims to inspire creativity, support reading for pleasure, and bring communities together through imaginative experiences. The programme offered a wide mix of activities across the city, including interactive storytelling sessions, creative workshops, author talks, pop-up performances, and live theatre.

“One of the workshops had the goal of encouraging our young library users to create little worlds in bird boxes to inspire others to then write stories based on their designs. We approached Wharfedale Men’s Shed to see if they could build some bird boxes for us, and were delighted that they were happy to make some.

“One of the festival’s goals is bringing communities together, and working with an organisation that is already doing that was a privilege. We ran half a dozen workshops in libraries over February half-term with illustrator Emma Jones, and the bird boxes are now amongst our library book shelves for people to seek out!”