Supported by our Programme and Partnerships Manager based in Manchester, local writers work with young people in secondary schools across the North West of England.
First Story has provided a space where young people can play and think and write and not write and draft and redraft. The pride and passion they have developed into their own writing as well as their belief in their own thoughts AND working with a professional writer, has brought their ideas to life, which has been wonderful.
Alex Lockhart
Co-op Academy north Manchester
Alumni voices
Elizabeth, Manchester
Elizabeth Reynolds from Trinity C of E High School in Manchester won the 2023 Young Writers Festival Competition – awarded to the writing that best responds to one of Quentin Blake’s illustrations – with her poem ‘Hoarder’s Honeymoon’ inspired by Quentin’s illustration of a couple in an over-packed car. She read her poem to a packed room at the 2024 Festival.
North West stories
Get in touch
Rachael Bamber
Programme & Partnerships Manager, North West
Rachael supports our programmes in the North West region. Rachael has worked with young people in school and community settings since 2009. With a background in youth theatre, she believes that everyone should engage in artistic opportunities and believes in the transformative power of creative engagement with young people.
