2020 Grant - Ministry of Stories

Although our anniversary year and ‘Hackney Tales’ flagship project did not go as
planned we couldn’t be prouder of our young people, volunteers and staff team. All
of whom have shown remarkable resilience and who have adapted at a drop of a hat
to their change in circumstances. As a result of our Writing Programme Leaders’
quick thinking and close relationships with our young people, their families and local
schools we were able to launch a remote offer within four weeks of our writing
centre’s closure that young people were able to access from home. We have been
blown away by the response to our virtual programme, which has seen 84% of our
community children engaging online through our zoom writing labs, and been
humbled by the feedback we have received from families on the difference it has
made during the schools’ closures. We have also gone very low-tech and sent 100%
of young writers in our community lab a suite of ‘letterbox surprises’ through their
front door to support their imaginations and writing at home.​

Inside You may Expect The Ordinary, is a collaborative poem written by the children and young people who took part in our virtual Community Writing Labs ahead of the summer holidays. In keeping with the collaborative spirit of the poem, we asked the Ministry of Stories' team to all take part in reading it - to say a big thank you to our volunteers and young people for their positivity, grit and boundless imagination during this difficult time.
You can check out our reading here.