Ladybird

Nope. Not the insect - the book company. Ladybird Books. 

The company was started in my home town and although Ladybird are still publishing books today, they're now owned by Penguin and everything's moved south, leaving a big hole in the town.

Next year, Loughborough's going to be celebrating the centenary of Ladybird Books and today, I went to a meeting to put forward ideas of how those celebrations might look. A Literary Festival has been suggested...

It's still very early days in the planning stages, but  there were some lovely ideas floating about. My publisher, Ian, was a typesetter with the company and there are many people who live in town who used to be connected to the words and pictures that made a Ladybird book so special - I'm hoping for some wonderful exhibitions of memories and artefacts, as well as reading events and lots about illustrating for children's literature.

The local press dropped in to cover the meeting and asked for a photo of everyone. We were all given a museum copy of a Ladybird book to hold (I was hoping for Cinderella, but got The Vikings instead) and we posed...

I'll keep you posted as details come in, as I'm sure there are loads of you who have fond memories of Ladybird.

My favourite...but I hated the blue dress!