Grimm & Co

Okay, so anyone who follows me on social media will have seen some of my posts recently about my trip to Grimm & Co on Friday morning! If you haven't, then go look! No I'm kidding, everything you are going to want to know is in this blog post!

Let's start with who they are!! Grimm & Co are a Rotherham based writing charity for young writers - in their own words - "We run innovative, energised, exciting and artistic activities that unleash imaginations and help young people to unlock and realise their potential. We publish, perform or present writing - we give a reason to write! We start, and finish, with the children's own imagination. In a nutshell, we champion the writer in every child." I genuinely couldn't have put it better myself!

I learned of Grimm & Co's existence only a few months ago from a colleague at work who wholeheartedly champions their work, and well, everything about them, and from the amazing things she had to say about them, I could see why. Having now been to Grimm & Co and seen the magic for myself, I am officially jumping on the bandwagon, so to speak, and joining in!

On Friday morning, I went down to Rotherham with a friend and fellow writer who was intrigued by the idea of such a magical place designed to inspire children, and we were lucky enough to have a tour from the lovely Siobhan. She took us for a look around and showed us all the fantastic corners of Grimm & Co, and told us about some of the fantastic work they do with the young writers of Yorkshire. The place is amazing - there are no words that could do justice to describing it - I urge everyone to go down there and see the magic for themselves - I promise you that you won't regret it!!

I didn't take many photos while I was there, I wish I'd taken more, but I was distracted by the beauty and too curious about everything and kept forgetting! The one I am glad I got was this one though - the giant's book case. What a beautiful collection of books, and it now has me wondering whether I would like a wooden stair case at home so that I can put my own favourite books on the steps like this!!

One of my favourite parts of Grimm & Co is the Library of Forgotten Books, a small library full of books that have been forgotten about! How sad :( yet a beautiful collection, particularly children's books that you'd forgotten about until browsing through the stacks!




At the end of the tour, George nearly tripped over himself saying yes when Siobhan asked if we'd like to go down the beanstalk! He'd been eyeing up the helter-skelter like slide since the moment we had walked in, and had already asked me whether I thought we'd be allowed down it! Look at his face!! Haha...

While we were there, we also got to meet the inspiring, founding director, Deborah! She bubbled with excitement about everything she told us, and her passion for her job and for the work that Grimm & Co do with budding writers shone, making it hard to not get excited along with her!

I also got to meet Louise, who introduced herself as the woman behind Twitter, the voice I'd been speaking to while tweeting them for the last few weeks. Obviously that is not her official title; as Communications and Fundraising Coordinator she has a lot more to do that tweet people! It was great to put a face to the name though :)

Having our photo taken I realised that my tattoos fit perfectly with their message about storytelling, so we had to retake the photo to include them - as awkward as it looks standing like that, I think it turned out pretty well!!









I have loads more I could say, but I honestly believe that the magic is in going to look for yourself... Here are the links to their site and social media, but get yourself into Rotherham and go see them, take the kids (it will blow their minds) and sign them up for some of the workshops to get their creative juices flowing! It really is amazing!

Grimm & Co website
Facebook Page
Instagram Feed
Twitter Account
YouTube Channel

Check them out - like their accounts, share their posts - the support will mean the world to them, and it will help tell people all about them! The world needs to know that they are here!!

(Image taken from Grimm & Co website)