What's On in Glasgow - Story Fest at St Enoch Centre

We've had a lot of fun lately with story telling, including our adventures with Disney for their Fit to Dance programme. My little ones love stories and story telling, so the Story Fest at St Enoch Centre sounds brilliant (it's just a pity that we're going to be sunning ourselves in Portugal!).

The St Enoch Centre is inviting you and your children to 'Story Fest' during the October holidays.

Story Fest is a 9-day festival dedicated to children's literature running from Saturday 10th to Sunday 18th October with loads of activities from character visits from Dora and The Gruffalo, to creative workshops.

The most exciting event is 'Badger the Mystical Mutt'... Badger is a 6ft dog with a nose for adventure and he takes children on a magical journey involving songs and story telling. Badger is the star of a series of children's books exploring various issues, including bullying.



 Badger v MC Loki Rap Battle
Join Glasgow hip-hop star Darren McGarvey - aka Loki - and create your very own rap... suitable for ages 11-16 years.


Badger the Mystical Mutt runs in the St Enoch Centre on Thursday 15th Oct from 12-1pm and 2-3pm and is suitable for children 5-8 years old.

All events are free, but some are ticketed and must be booked in advance.

I have received a complimentary goody bag, containing an Optical Express voucher in exchange for this post - thank you St Enoch Centre :-)

{Kinder Handl - Preloved Children's Items}

The other afternoon I popped along very quickly to Kinder Handl.

My friend Rhona had recommended the shop a while back, and for a long time now it's been on my list of places to check out. Anyway, I finally got along for a visit and I was thoroughly impressed, so thought I'd share the details with you here :-)

Kinder Handl

1054 Cathcart Road

Glasgow

G42 9XW

Mon - Sat: 9.30am - 5pm

Sun: 10am - 4pm

Kinder Handl is a not-for-profit community shop selling pre-loved children's items. 

Kinder Handl collect or receive children's items that you no longer require, and in return they do the advertising and selling to maximise the profit.

All funds raised go to Yorkhill Children's Charity. 

The community organisation welcome all families and friends to come and play at their shop and make any purchases from their wide selection of affordable pre-loved items. 

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The set-up at the shop is fab and we were quickly welcomed by the friendly volunteers (none of the staff take a salary). There's plenty of space for little ones to play, and there's even a small reading corner where you might find a storytelling sessions being held.

The selection of toys, books and clothing was impressive and everything was very reasonably priced. There really was a happy vibe about the place.

I'm suitably impressed and most definitely will be paying them another visit soon when I have more time to browse.

You can even have a free tea or coffee whilst you are there!

They also offer free delivery of larger items, so if you spot something on their Facebook page you can make a purchase without even going into the shop. What more could you ask for?

{Banana Loaf}

A wee while ago I was sent some goodies from Graham's Dairy. They've been revamping their organic range to give the products a 'fresher' image.

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I do buy Graham's milk, but haven't bought the organic one before. If I'm honest I'm not sure that I noticed the difference. But that's probably because all I really do is put milk in my tea, I can't face drinking it straight - eugh! The test would be comparing them side by side (that's the scientist in me!!). Anyway, I was also sent some organic butter and cream. What did I do with them... I decided to bake a cake!

Here's the recipe for the Banana Loaf I made, which is from 'Baking with kids' by Linda Collister:

250 g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
75 g light brown muscovado sugar
75 g caster sugar
100 g unsalted Graham's organic butter, melted
2 large free-range eggs, lightly whisked with a fork
2 large ripe bananas, peeled and fork-mashed
75 g plain chocolate, chopped into chunks

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1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (350 deg F) or Gas 4.

2. Grease a loaf tin and line with greaseproof paper (I used a silicone loaf tin and didn't use greaseproof paper, just some margarine to grease the sides).

3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugars and stir with a wooden spoon. Make a well in the centre.

4. Add the eggs, melted butter, bananas and chocolate into the well in the bowl.

5. Mix until fully combined.

6. Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for approximately 55 minutes.

The cake was amazing! Especially served warm with a drizzle of Graham's organic cream (who am I kidding, it was covered in cream!!). I've made a few cakes from this book before and they've all been a success - I'd highly recommend it to other parents.

{Childhood Memories}

I thought I'd share with you a few of my favourite childhood books. I still have them and read them to my two little ones frequently. Hopefully they'll become their favourites too. They bring back many happy memories of spending quality time with my mum & dad when I was a little girl...

This was my all time favourite story... as you can see I've written my name in the top left hand corner!

I had a sookie (sp?) blanket when I was little... 

Another Shirley Hughes favourite...

I loved all the Janet & Allan Ahlberg books, and still do. Peepo is another favourite.

Last but not least... Andy Pandy and the Willow Tree. I was desperate to have a willow tree in our garden when I was growing up!