I think it is a case of people getting to know us and seeing just what we can do.” “We have bookings for a couple of schools in Elmbridge as well as Richmond and a little farther afield. “We are really just starting to get off the ground with this,” she said. She has also been part of the Pied Piper Theatre Company at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. The aim of the company is to develop Theatre in Education (TiE) production, a concept in which Gemma has an abundance of experience. “It is good for them to see what they have created being acted out.” “Together, they then write a story and then all join up for the actors to perform it in front of them.

“Each of these groups has around 30 children,” said Gemma, who spent five years teaching drama at Claremont Fan Court school in Esher. The performance is targeted at Key Stage Two pupils aged seven to 11, and follows the national curriculum. Hotbuckle Productions, which has three actors, performs the show and then splits the pupils into three groups for a series of interactive workshops. Together, Rosie and Roland learn about writing such as similes and metaphors and get very excited about what they can create. Hotbuckle Production’s first show is based on Rosie’s friendship with Roland Roberts, a boy who she detests at first but grows to become her great friend, and their teacher, Mr Granville. It is also a way of giving something back to my mother.” “When we started a theatre company, we wanted something personal and that meant something to us. My mother got the idea from when I was at Brownies and I was really scared and used to write to her every day. “It is this idea of writing and showing her thoughts that we are looking at. At first, she says she hates it, then, slowly, she quite likes it and, eventually, she loves being there and does not want to come home. “In the books, Rosie goes to stay with her granddad and sends letters home to her mother. “They look at Rosie’s discovery of writing,” said Gemma. The idea for the company came about after Gemma’s mother, Martina Selway, a children’s book illustrator and author, wrote a series of books on a little girl called Rosie. Its debut production, Get Writing with Rosie, had its first airing at Ashley School in Walton last Thursday and will shortly be seen at Burhill Infants School and the Riverhouse in Manor Road. Hotbuckle Productions was set up in September by husband-and-wife team Adrian Preater and Gemma Aston and has just won grants from the RC Sherriff Trust and Arts Council England.

What Can I Write? by Martina Selway