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Logans Journey

Hello everyone, how are you all?  Hope you’re keeping safe with your families. What a difficult time  it’s been for lots of people  with this Corona virus. 


So in the last issue I told you about all the exciting things I had been up to and what I had planned. Well I have done lots and lots of things!  I’ve  designed my own CD cover for my song ( Different me ) that I planned on releasing for Autism awareness month. It’s an adaptation from a poem I’ve written but unfortunately the cd had to be put on hold because the company had to close down temporarily because of Corona Virus. 

I found this very very difficult to process at first and it raised my anxiety. I really struggle if my plans and expectations get changed. I had a difficult few days with some tears but then I realised after my mum and the Beats Bus explained to me clearly it was out of their hands. I however, had a lesson with the Hull Beats Bus over Zoom video which I really enjoyed it and it has resulted in the CD now being finished! 


I also had a great experience at my festival in Harrogate.  The Hull, Leeds and Harrogate train workers were amazing with me and got us safely to our destination.  The festival was very successful and I came 3rd place with the poem ‘Finger Food’.  I was so proud of myself and my mum was cheering as if she had just won a million pounds when the adjudicator told us all that I received a distinction! 

Harrogate is a lovely place to visit.  Me and My Mum went to the pub for lunch and I chatted to the bar staff. My mum said she had to almost drag me away! I was just so excited that I wanted to tell the lady everything. She even let me perform my poem for her!  I enjoyed a delicious meal of sausages and chips and still had room for chocolate ice cream for dessert. I did manage to accidentally spill a pint of water all over and I put too much sauce on my chips but that’s ok. I was just to keen and excited!!

 
The hotel was nice. When I got into my room I had to organise everything like it would be in my own room but I didn’t mind. The sheets felt very hard so I used the spare quilt from the cupboard to put underneath me to make it feel a little more like home.  I would usually take my own bedding but we already had lots a luggage as we had three costume changes!  I have to say I particularly loved the ‘all you can eat breakfast’ and may have just eaten a little too much!  


I’ve had lots of great lessons with Mikey from  State of the Arts academy over ZOOM and have been working on my American accent. I am looking forward to getting back to lessons now though to continue The Wizard of Oz and hopefully audition to be the witch or the lion. These auditions are now obviously on hold.  Again, I was very upset and a little angry at everything because I was so looking forward to them but I’m reassured its all going to be ok and it’s just going to take a little time to get back to normal.  I’ve sang a few times on Saturday evening’s on SOTA karaoke. They have been so much fun that I’ve also taken part in lots of their creative challenges which my sister has got involved in too. 


I have been in lots of exciting Autism awareness videos. One being with Aimhigher. You can find the video of me and some other children and adults singing a song by Emile Sandes. This was going to be performed at SOTA but instead we created it all in our own homes. 


I’m really really settled at school at the moment because there are only a hand full of key worker children and EHCP holders in. I’ve been able to get on and do things at my own pace which has been helpful.  I particularly enjoy Monday and Tuesdays as we have the dance teacher Sara Brumpton come in. I love her lessons so much.  Sara has always been understanding of my needs we even enjoy a little banter at times. Whilst at school I even made my father a thankyou card for doing a great job empty all the SMELLY bins!  My mum bought the staff a gift as a token of her appreciation for  working the Bank holidays. A big THANK YOU must go to Mrs Beal and Mrs Barkworth for ensuring that I am in a safe place at school during these uncertain times.   


This week I received a welcome pack from the school I will be transitioning to in September. I absolutely love the school tie and cannot wait to wear it. I’m also really looking forward to meeting my teacher over Zoom video. 
I’m also enjoying my singing more than ever and I have my lessons in my own home via ZOOM. On Mother’s Day I did a cool video of me singing one of my new songs and if you head over to my FB page you can check that out! 


I’ve sang live twice now for ‘Clap for carers’. I sang the song Titanium the last time and I had only just learned it that same day. I received almost 4K views on Facebook which made me feel very happy. The song is close to my heart as I can relate to the lyrics. 


I’ve enjoyed designing my own Autism awareness t-shirt that was going to be worn during autism awarmess month at a coffee morning myself and my current school were going to run but sadly this was cancelled. I have also learnt  the British Sign Language alphabet in just 1 day!!  It’s something I’ve often thought of learning and this has been the perfect opportunity. I’ve also performed ‘True colours’ and ‘This is me’ in Makaton. These two videos were shared on my Facebook page and also other organisations including Born anxious, KIDS and FOE shared them as they really enjoyed watching them too. 


A lot of my festivals I’ve been working towards all year have now been cancelled which is a shame as I worked really hard all year but I’ve put my pieces into use by performing a 30 minute live show on the clap for key workers face book page. I really enjoyed doing this. 
Hope you all enjoyed this.  I will keep raising awareness and keep up my lessons. You can check out all my activities on my fb page ‘Logan Richards autistic spectrum performance  journey’. 
Bye for now …

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