02/10/2026
What a truly wonderful week we’ve had! We visited Christleton High School, Weaverham High School, Tarporley High School, and The Heath School with the inspirational Ashley Hickson-Lovence, author of Wild East. Ashley delivered a series of talks to Year 9 students and some very special workshops with Year 9 boys at each school. Students from Blacon High School, Ellesmere Port C of E College, and St. Nicholas Catholic High also participated in the events and had the opportunity to meet Ashley.
Ashley has a mantra which really does speak to us all: ‘When life’s off track, put pen to paper and find your way back.’ All the visits were fantastic and it was a joy to see the students being so inspired by Ashley. He creates engaging, thought-provoking sessions centred around creativity, storytelling, identity, resilience and the power of literature. Listening to the boys in the workshops was extremely moving, and it was lovely to see them being so open and creative, expressing themselves with the written and spoken word.
Thank you to all the wonderful librarians and pupils who made the visits so special. We’ve had the most incredible feedback from schools, with one school librarian writing that, ‘Year 9 is not always the easiest group to engage with and yet Ashley had them eating out of his hand. They showed great interest and respect as they listened to his life story … his impact on the boys in the workshop group was even more impressive. These are students who are often reluctant, switched off or disruptive in English lessons and Ashley had them absorbed in creative writing exercises and very eager to read out their stories. It was wonderful to see and the school leadership team were extremely impressed with how much was achieved in so little time.’
Thank you to Ashley for being such a joy and inspiration to be around. We can’t wait to welcome him back to Cheshire and celebrate the release of his next Young Adult books!
