The Book of Thetford

Long-time Festival collaborators, Andy Field and Beckie Darlington, led this project in which young people from four Thetford primary schools created an imaginative ‘guidebook’ to their town.

Part fictional imagining, part actual guidebook, The Book of Thetford allowed young people to write stories about life on their streets as they see it. They drew new maps of their neighbourhood, named those places they care about that may not be noticed by others, and proposed new monuments to honour their unrecognised heroes.

For readers, whether local or visitors to the area, the guidebook acts as an invitation to look beyond the familiar and predictable and to experience Thetford anew, through the eyes of some of its youngest inhabitants.

‘The launch event of the book will be a once in a lifetime experience for most children; they are truly proud to have their work, thoughts and opinions represented in a book that will showcase their love of Thetford. As staff, being able to experience the wonders of Thetford through the eyes of the children has been magical and they have captured all the wonderfulness of Thetford.’ Teacher, Drake Primary School and Little Pirates Child Care

The young people worked with illustrators and designers to bring the book to life and it was launched to audiences in a packed Carnegie celebratory event in Thetford, as part of Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2024. Around 1500 copies of the book were distributed free around Norfolk as part of the project.

Download The Book of Thetford

Artist

Andy Field and Beckie Darlington

Location

Thetford, Norfolk

Participants

210 Pupils and 15 school staff from Admiral’s Academy, Drake Primary School, Norwich Road Primary School and Redcastle Family School