“I got the idea when my girls asked for a story about horses (just a quick makey up story before tea!), and as I didn’t want to tell them a story about pony trekking or flying horses I was wondering what else I could do with horses, when that picture of a moving, gleaming, varnished horse by a pool in a wood came into my mind. I knew I was seeing the picture through the eyes of someone who was searching for missing children, and I also knew I wanted to write about her. So I wondered – is that wooden horse friendly, or not? And unfriendly is always more fun, so that is how the story started!”

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Talking to 19 year old folk singer Chloe Matharu is a delightful experience. Listening to her is even better. Born and bred in Edinburgh, she says, “Someone was always singing around the house, although my family would never consider themselves as musical. My mother has a lovely voice and she used to sing with us a lot as children so I think this is what fired my love of songs.”

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They say money doesn’t grow on trees but, in a corner of East Lothian, happiness does. Alastair Gower and Friederike Matthis, owners of The Chocolate Tree, say that they are inspired and motivated by the happiness their chocolates bring.

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For the last 7 years, The Royal Lyceum Theatre has hosted the National Youth Theatre’s Connections Festival, featuring 10 plays specially commissioned for the event which includes youth theatres from all over Britain. Read the rest of this entry »