04/04/2019
Welcome back. I have been very busy writing my children’s novel – see later – which is why I have neglected my blog. Sorry! I have recently […]
- Filter by
- Categories
- Tags
- Authors
- Show all
- All
- Adopting an older child
- Adoption procedures 1970- - our experience
- Books
- Family History
- Grandchildren
- Statement
- Sundry reflections
- Uncategorised
- Uncategorized
- All
- 'Saving Willowfield' by Odette Elliott
- "Black British Style" V&A Exhibition 2004
- "children of color"
- "Counterize" statistics
- "Getting to know you"
- "Jam Tomorrow" byMonica Redlich
- "La Cathedrale Engloutie"
- "Les Malheures de Sophie"
- "Les Memoires d'un Elephant Blanc
- "looked after children"
- "more unites us than divides us" Jo Cox MP RiP
- "No Place to Call Home"
- "Plouf le canard"
- "Sammy Goes Flying"
- "The Big Book of Feelings"
- "We are Family"
- "Welcome to the Family" by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith
- "Who do you think that you are?"interesting backgrounds
- "wicked moves"
- 1970s
- 1980s racism
- 1981
- 1987
- 2011
- 3rd Thought
- 6th form
- a children's theatre production
- A Library of Lemons by Jo Cotterill
- a manse
- a mirror to every child's life
- a pride and understanding of racial heritage
- A Rock for Jah
- Abigay's Farm
- Abigay's Farm by Odette Elliott
- adopted son
- adopters
- adoptiion of black and mixed race children
- adopting an older child
- adopting an older child in the 1980s
- adoption
- adoption day
- adoption experience relevant today
- adoption is for life
- Adoption Memoirs
- adoption order
- adoption process
- adoption scoiety
- adoptive parents
- Afro hair
- Amersham
- An Awfully Big Blog Adventure
- An Interconnected world
- ancient peoples travelling round the globe
- Andrew Collins
- anti-racist policy
- anxious to succeed
- appeal tribunal
- appreciating different backgrounds
- are children always 'colour-blind'?
- artists
- Assisted self-publishing
- attention-seeking
- Aurora dolls
- Australia
- author
- BAAF
- back history
- Barbie dolls
- Barnardo's
- barrister
- basketball
- BBC 4 on 4th July 2016
- BBC series Black & British
- Belfast
- Benjamin Zephaniah
- birth father
- birth mother
- birth mother from the Highlands of Scotland
- Birth mothers
- birth parents
- birthday
- birthday cards depicting'non-white'children
- birthday parties
- Blac
- black characters
- black female role model
- black female role models
- Black History Month
- black or mixed-race children
- black people
- black/mixed race haircare
- blog
- BME black and minority ethnic groups
- Bob Marley
- body shape
- Book "Bestimmt wird alles gut"
- book launch of 'Abigay's Farm'
- book reviews
- books on adoption
- Boys' Brigade
- Brave - Disney
- breakdancing
- British Adoption and Fostering
- British and Beautiful
- British culture
- Brittanny
- camping
- camping in France
- camping in Italy
- Candy Gourlay
- Caradoc King A Problem Child
- Caribbean
- Caribbean poets
- Caribbeanbackground
- Carnival
- Castles of the Loire
- Celebrating our History
- cerebral palsy
- childhood
- children visible by colour
- children's books
- children's novel
- China
- chinese children
- Chinese New Year Story
- Chris Riddell
- church
- church members
- church minister's salary
- coats of armour
- comics
- commitment for life
- consent to the adoption
- copper kettle
- Cornwall
- cousins
- cover design
- culinary delicacies
- current culture
- deep desire to belong
- different countries and cultures
- Dimsie by Dorita Fairlie Bruce
- Dimsie Goes to School by Dorita Fairlie Bruce
- Discussion forums
- Disney - Brave
- diversity
- diversity in the television industry
- Dr Maya Angelou
- drama groups visiting a school
- dried milk
- dual identity
- emotive power of words especially with regard to race
- empathetic
- Empathy Lab UK
- engineering works
- England's Black Footballers
- English as a second language
- Enid Blyton
- Ethiopia
- ethnic minorities
- ethnic minorities visiting the British countryside
- explaining things to children
- family celebrating
- Fatima Whitbread
- finland
- fishing
- Five Children and It
- flight of fancy
- forever family
- formally adopted
- foster brother and sisters
- foster parents
- fostering and adoption
- France
- Frances Lincoln Limited
- friends
- friendship
- future 'little brother'
- Georgina McIntyre
- Germaine Greer
- girls' basketball teams
- Girls' Brigade
- Google Search
- grandchildren
- granddaughter
- grandmothers
- Great Women who changed the World
- Gypsies
- hair cut
- happy at school
- Happy Hair UK
- hard-to-place black and mixed race children
- Harlesden
- Harmony
- Harmony. corn row
- he ain't heavy he's my brother
- Heidi
- helpful
- helpful big sister
- Herefordshire
- heritage
- High Court
- Highland Games
- Hip Hop
- http;//www/pac-uk.org
- humour
- hypothermia
- I know why the caged bird sings
- identical twins
- ILEA
- illustrations
- information for adopters
- intercom
- International language Esperanto
- international outlook
- International Voluntary Service
- interracial adoption 19c. 1978
- interracial families
- Irish Traveller children
- Islington Writers for children
- Jackie Kay Red Dust Road
- Jah
- Jam tomorrow by Monica Redlich
- Jamaica
- James Berry
- Jan Daum
- JeanetteWinterson
- Jeremy Harding
- Joe Brady
- John Agard
- John O'Leary
- Joshua
- Jules Dalou 1873
- Junior school
- Kate Pankhurst "Fantastically Great Women who changed the world"
- Katharine Quarmby
- Keith Haring
- Kew
- Kindness
- Kirsten Boie
- kite festival
- kites
- Kowetha
- Krakow
- Languages
- Latinos
- legal papers
- Leiceser
- Leicester
- leisure activity
- Lemn Sissay
- Lenny Henry
- Letterbox Library
- libraries
- Life Story
- Life Story Book
- life-changing event
- linguistics
- little brother
- little brother the same colour as himself
- Local Authority's Social Services Department
- London
- London schools in the 1980s
- longed-for adoptiion
- looking for a publisher
- Lord Mayor's Show
- Lorenzo Bartolini 1821
- losing a baby tooth
- Love-less adoption
- Lynda Waterhouse
- M.E. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Mabel Lucy Atwel
- Madeline by Ludwig Bertelman
- Main line into Euston
- Malaysia
- Malaysia in the 1970s
- Malorie Blackman
- Man Booker Prize
- Margaret Edgar
- Margaret Forster
- Marlon James
- Marseille
- Marseille harbour
- Mary Hoffman
- Mattel
- ME Action
- Memoir
- Memoirs
- Mia
- Mia and Alexandra
- Michael Jackson
- minister's wife
- minorities
- Mirrors windows doors website
- mixed-race couples
- mixed-race families
- mixedracefamilies blogspot
- moon walking
- Moro reflex
- mosquito net
- mother tongue
- moving house
- moving in
- moving school
- Mr Men books
- multi-faith
- multi-racial
- multicultural society
- multiracial cards
- multiracial city
- multiracial part of the city
- music provision at school
- musical box
- My Big Brother JJ
- Mylo Freeman
- Naomi C. Robinson
- National Adoption Month
- Natural History Museum
- nature versus nurture
- Nelson Mandela
- nesting
- new life and surroundings
- new phase in our family life
- New York Times Sunday Review
- Nicola Morgan
- Nigerian birth father
- NO Country David Fickling Books
- Noel Streatfeild
- non-fiction
- North West Highlands of Scotland
- North West London
- Northern Ireland. The Troubles
- Northern Italy
- not very dramatic
- Notting Hill Carnival
- nyhagraphics
- officially adopted
- Olympic Gold Medal
- ONE Human Race
- One race
- Open Farms
- operation 'little brother'
- our Present and our Future
- our social workers
- paediatrician
- paper work to be completed by the social worker
- patient big brother
- Patrice Aggs
- Patrice and John Aggs
- Pearly Kings and Queens
- PennyJoelson
- Perthes Disease
- Peter Pan
- picture books
- pioneers
- playing cricket
- positive affirmation
- practising social worker
- predominantly white areas
- premature
- premature babies
- Princess Arabella
- Princess Arabella by Mylo Freeman
- Princess Katrina and the Hair Charmer by christina Shingler and Derek Brazell
- princesses
- Proof copies
- pupil premium in England
- quiet acts of kindness
- race
- racial and gender equality
- racism
- racist comments
- racist-name calling
- Rasta locks
- Rastafarian
- Rastafarian name
- re-adjustment
- refugee crisis
- refugees
- released for adoption
- religion
- representing diversity in books
- Roald Dahl
- Role models for girls
- role modelsinspirational figures
- RosAsquith
- rules of grammar
- running
- Sammy's Christmas Workshop
- Scandinavian
- SCBWI
- school centenary
- School journeys
- school policies
- school sports fields
- school sweatshirt
- school uniform
- school with anti-racist policy
- Scotland
- secondary school
- secondary school days
- Secret Garden
- secure a school place
- sense of identity
- sense of responsibility
- sense of self-worth
- settle in his new environment
- settling an older child into a new family
- Severe ME
- sexism
- Shadow on the King by Frank Cox
- shopping list
- short-term foster parents
- Shortwood Open Farm
- sightseeing
- signed documents
- SilverWood Books
- Simone Manuel
- skin tone
- slef-publishing
- small farms
- small laptop computer
- social media
- social mix
- Social Services
- social worker
- social workers
- Society of Authors
- son for life
- steel band
- Steve Jobs
- storage heater
- stories
- supporting our children at school
- supporting our children in the community
- Sweden
- talking about adoption
- Tamarind
- Tamarind Books
- terminology
- the Barbican
- the Bookwitch
- The Boy who sailed the ocean in an armchair by Lara Willamson
- The Great Big Book of Families
- The Great Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith
- The Great Wall of China
- The Guardian
- the handover
- the Hig hlands of Scotland
- the importance of the Arts
- The Metro
- the next step was to plan the handover
- the only black boy
- The Open Door Society Canada
- the passage of time
- the Polish language
- The Princess and the Frog
- The Princess and the Frog - Disney
- the Rio Olympics
- The Royal Courts of Justice
- The Secret Hen House Theatre by Helen Peters
- The silence Seeker by Ben Morley
- The Three Graces
- The Today Programme
- the Tower of London
- The Traiding Floors of the City
- Think Black
- Tiana the Princess and the Frog
- Tobago
- Tottenham
- Tower of London
- Tracy Beaker
- trans-racial adoption
- Travellers
- Trinidad and tobago
- triplets
- tropical fish
- Tuscaloosa News
- Twin sisters. A World Apart
- Tyneside
- Tyneside accent
- Uk Children's Laureate
- understanding of racial heritage
- variety of traditions
- Verna Wilkins
- Victoria and Albert Museum V&A
- virtual school
- virtual teacher
- ward of court
- Welcome
- welcome to London
- wind-blown artefacts
- windows offering views of worlds
- Woo Hoo! A good feeling from dance
- world view
- youth clubs