Nature Walks with Miss Bird
Colour Heroes on the road again....
Counting Down the Days and Scotland Here We Come....
Read what our customers are saying about us!
Best selling children's history series
Bringing magic to seriously ill children
Refreshing Alton Towers
Cool at the Causeway
Leeds City Museum Welcome Rory's Treasure Box
The National Trust's Claydon House Praise Colour Heroes Team
Nature Walks with Miss Bird
Ask me what I most remember about junior school and the answer is simple, it was the nature walk. We’d line up behind Miss Bird, and yes that really was her name, hold hands with our partner and set out to look for bugs, birds, butterflies and anything else the field and the lane might offer.
Then along came Health and Safety and risk assessments, and the nature walk went the same way as free school milk.
Which is a pity because kids do love nature and despite the Xbox and PS3 they love being outside. Constantly asking “Why” and “What’s that” and “Why do birds do that”! Exactly the questions they’d have asked on the nature walk…
That’s why we’re launching a new series of Colour Heroes Nature Books introducing the British countryside to today’s children. They’re interactive, fun and engaging. They may not be Miss Bird, but they’re the next best thing…
Colour Heroes on the road again....
The last time I looked out of the office window, which only seems like a couple of days ago, it was spring! Now the field is covered in leaves, the sun has gone behind the trees by two in the afternoon and the first frosts of winter can’t be far away. Where did the summer go?
For Colour Heroes “in a blur of activity” is the answer. Les and I seem to have spent more time on the M1 than the average Eddie Stobart lorry.
But all the trips were worth it – whether meeting with existing customers, or new ones, Les and I have met some fantastic people in some beautiful places.
So despite the current economic woes, we are moving into autumn/winter season with all guns blazing. We’re adding to the Colour Heroes range all the time and we’ve a new member of the team (Helen, my eldest daughter) and despite the fact that it’s suddenly dark at four o’clock, the future’s looking bright here!
Counting Down the Days and Scotland Here We Come....
I’m writing this on Friday November 11th. There are six weeks to Christmas and – gulp – twenty-one to next Easter, when it all begins again.
In fact, for many of our customers, Easter is the busiest time of the year. So it’s going to be a short winter. We are away for a week in January as we’re going to the Kilconquhar Castle estate in Scotland – our dog, Millie’s, favourite place in the whole world! (If you’re wondering, the locals pronounce it Kin-ocker, which for us translates to cosy dinners, windswept walks along the beach and a pint in the local with a wet dog in front of the fire!)
But that aside we’ll be illustrating, writing stories, planning sales trips and working on the launch of our new Nature Books.
So if you need us, we’re in the office with our fingers and toes crossed that’s it’s not a winter like last year and that we can actually get in to the office!
Read what our customers are saying about us!
Flambards have been a customer of Colour Heroes for six years now and have, from the beginning, been impressed with the quality of their products and friendly service.
We have our renowned Victorian Village and Britain in the Blitz exhibitions for which the Colour Heroes books on Victorians and World War II have been a welcome asset. The content of each book is well laid out, full of interesting facts and although aimed at children, is certainly a fascinating read for adults alike.
Tracey Wilkinson, Retail Manager, The Flambards Experience, Cornwall.
Best selling children's history series
Bringing magic to seriously ill children
We created two engaging characters called Johnny Inept and Carla Daley, a pair of hapless pirates with not much happening in their lives! A story written in rhyme takes the couple on a magical journey to meet a very special delivery from Mars. The delivery from Mars turns out to be the new Fun Centre recently introduced by the Starlight Foundation into children’s wards throughout the country.
This important project illustrates the strategic marketing opportunities we can create to introduce new concepts, additions, offers or changes in style. We worked in rhyme as it helped to get the message across quickly and added pace and vibrancy to the product, which engages children as well as adults.
Refreshing Alton Towers
Alton Towers needed a re-fresh of the 28 page, branded family activity book we had created for them in 2008. Tori had a reduced budget and no room for compromise on quality and the books were required quickly to fulfil demand. With a short lead time we knew we would have supply problems in the Far East with colouring crayons to go into the activity pack and there was a shortage of FSC accredited paper too.
We have a group of first-class suppliers in Yorkshire to suit all of our needs and we secured 100,000 packs of a high quality alternative pack of colouring crayons and then set to work on finding an alternative material to achieve the excellent results of the previously printed activity book. Refreshing the books and introducing the new characters and rides in the park was pretty easy after that!
The final result is stunning. Les spent twice as long on illustrating the covers (it’s a dual front cover activity book) to include more detail and extra impact, so that the books look fresh and vibrant.
"Looks FANTASTIC!! Really pleased with it. Thank you!"
Tori Dexter - Brand Manager - Alton Towers
Cool at the Causeway
We took a trip over to Ireland and sat for an hour with Margaret and took away with us a sense of what she was looking for. We decided to tell the story in rhyme with all of the pantomime and theatrical flair at our disposal. The result is a stunning 20 page book which is performing well in the shop. We have had a wealth of praise from the site staff, as well as Alan Parris and John Stachiewicz, senior members of the buying team and publications in National Trust’s Head Office in Swindon.
Leeds City Museum Welcome Rory's Treasure Box
Leeds City Museum took delivery of 10,000 gate folded, A4 activity sheets recently and they are delighted with them. Esther wrote the text and with a little help from us they are now ready to challenge the Museum's young visitors and their families. Here is what Esther and her Line Manager thought of their brand new resource:
"Just to let you know that the trails are here and we love them – thank you very much!! The illustrations, design and layout is perfect, and we’re all very pleased with it.
Thank you and Les very much for your hard work on the trail. We are looking forward to seeing it in use in the City Museum."
Esther Amis-Hughes, Access and Learning Officer
and Sue Davies, Head of Learning and Audience Development
The National Trust's Claydon House Praise Colour Heroes Team
We have recently completed six tailor-made interpretations boards for Claydon House in Buckinghamshire. The hand-illustrated boards have been created exclusively for Claydon House and Philip Warner is delighted with the results. Philip said:
"Colour Heroes have been a pleasure to work with on this project. Their staff were polite, friendly and helpful. The team spent a lot of time and effort in finding out our specific needs and tailoring their service accordingly. They clearly have a good knowledge of the heritage sector and how to communicate with audiences. The results are visually stunning and just what we wanted to bring Claydon alive for our visitors, I look forward to working with them again soon"
Philip Warner - House and Premises Manager - Claydon
