I thoroughly enjoyed this commission for Walk the Plank outdoor theatre company, presented as part of their Wild Wanders trail which was at Hollingworth Country Park October 2024. 

We worked with 11 classes of primary school children (ages 7-11) asking them about their thoughts and wishes for their world both now and in the future. I then recorded their statements in mini pop-up recording studio we set up at Rochdale Town Hall. Then, working with writer Kim Wiltshire, we arranged a verbatim poem from these recordings. As part of the experience, the children met an 8.5 metre puppet called Lily, for whom they delivered a letter and thought about how they want the future to be.

We asked them:

What do you love about living in Rochdale?

What kind of world do you wish for baby Lily?

A general sentence starter – Dear adults…

With thanks to Dr Harry Ovington for bat recordings

Photo by Kim Wiltshire; video projection by Illuminos