First Story Summer Residential 2024
Half term is nearly over and the summer holidays beckon. We are looking forward to the First Story Summer Residential which teamArchie will be funding for the fifth year.
16 young people have now been selected from hundreds taking part in First Story programmes in their schools across the country. They will come together in rural Yorkshire in July to work on their creative writing, inspired by a small team of professional writers and each other. For many it is the first time they have been away from home and the experience of learning to share their writing (and the downtime spent together) with likeminded individuals is transformational.
Not all the young people will go on to have careers in literature. Daniella, who also attended the 2022 Summer Residential, is interested in a career in banking or finance. She knows though that the confidence and perspective developed during the programme will have a fundamental influence on her life chances. “I’ve learnt to always make connections, wherever you go, to be open minded and creative, not to limit yourself to what you’re used to or what others want … I can do more than I think” but she says “I know no matter where I go, poetry will follow beside.” She is now a First Story ambassador and is already inspiring others by organising creative writing activities in her school and through her own stories of reading for the Queen at First Story’s 15th birthday celebrations.
This is part of the poem she read for the Queen at Clarence House: